0:00

She then gives a

0:02

classic gives a classic, so cool!

0:04

Whoa! in

0:31

Massachusetts, what is good?

0:33

It is a delight to be

0:35

here in your city. I is a

0:37

delight to be here in your city.

0:39

I have not been here for a

0:41

live show in so years or something, so

0:43

it's been a minute, I'm I'm glad to

0:45

be back and talking about some fun

0:47

books. Everybody ready for the show? ready for

0:49

the show? Sweet. I am excited excited to have an

0:51

early show as well. I didn't recognize

0:53

this until I saw some of the people

0:55

rolling in. I was like, oh, there's

0:57

a bunch of younger folks in the

1:00

crowd, like a bunch of teenagers and

1:02

younger kids. I a met someone of years old

1:04

in the crowd and like, oh, right.

1:06

kids. I what happens when they have a show

1:08

at 3 in the afternoon. nine years old in the crowd.

1:10

I just get it, especially as nine years old in you

1:12

know, people are like, oh, you want to

1:14

do something at like 8 o 'clock? They're

1:16

like, I'm sorry, you mean a show with three in bedtime. No.

1:18

So I totally get it. I'm glad that has

1:20

worked out. And I'm very excited to bring

1:22

this show to all to Now, we've got

1:24

some important Percy Jackson stuff to discuss. So

1:26

I think we should get right to it.

1:28

And we have to bring on our guests,

1:30

because I never do this alone. We have

1:32

a very special guest, Boston's own. right

1:35

to it, make some we have to

1:37

bring on our guest, because

1:39

I never do this alone.

1:42

We have a very special

1:45

a long runway up to the stage.

1:47

We're really gonna get our steps

1:49

in just from coming up and coming

1:51

back noise! you so much for coming

1:53

through coming through. I do a special you as you're

1:55

welcome you want to, you're welcome to. Oh no, Percy does

1:57

the plus. Oh, well, it

2:00

is. is true. to the show.

2:02

Hey everyone. So what specific town?

2:04

I didn't want to say the

2:06

wrong thing. I'm going to great.

2:08

Yeah, Braintree, Massachusetts. Yeah, Braintree in

2:10

the crowd. I was going to

2:12

say Braintree in the crowd. I

2:14

was going to say Braintree, but

2:16

I was like, that sounds to

2:18

science fiction, but I don't know.

2:20

It's what most people say. But

2:22

before we get into that. This

2:24

is now, I think this is

2:26

your third time for an episodic

2:28

appearance on the show. So, we

2:30

got to ask you your question,

2:32

what would your nectar and ambrosia

2:34

taste like? So optimal food, optimal

2:36

drink. This was a hard ones

2:39

of ponder because there are a

2:41

couple like flavors that cycle through

2:43

my life. It comes in phases.

2:45

Right now, for food, I want

2:47

to go on Nautella. I've been

2:49

on a big Nautella kick lately.

2:51

and then for beverage option, it's

2:53

got to be a good ice

2:55

coffee. And since we're in Boston,

2:57

a Duncan ice coffee to be

2:59

specific. Yeah. I'm glad the

3:01

Duncan Shadow got in. That's good. And

3:03

it's better in Boston too. Don't let

3:05

anyone tell you otherwise. I can see that.

3:08

Wawas are better in New Jersey than

3:10

they are anywhere else. So I totally

3:12

get it. Let's get into these chapters. Now,

3:14

where we last left our heroes, it

3:16

was the end of Chapter 6, which

3:18

was mostly the big old flashback, where we

3:20

learned about Hazel. back in New Orleans.

3:22

She snapped back for a little bit

3:24

to talk with Nico and then they had

3:26

to run to get back to camp

3:28

because muster was starting. Chapter 7 opens with

3:31

quote, on the way back, Hazel tripped

3:33

over a gold bar. So off to

3:35

a great start. Things are going very well

3:37

for Hazel. She was worried about being

3:39

late for muster because even though cohort

3:41

five has the nicest centurions in all of

3:43

Camp Jupiter, she would still get punished

3:45

and Roman punishments are very bad. They

3:47

include scrubbing the streets with a toothbrush. and

3:50

bullpens and quote, getting sewn inside a

3:52

sack full of angry weasels and thrown

3:54

into the little tiber. Wild. Wild. I wonder

3:56

if this is some sort of like

3:58

Roman myth thing. Either that or Uncle

4:00

Rick is just like spitten on the torture

4:02

fiction. But it's a wild punishment to

4:04

have to deal with and I would

4:06

never want to do that ever. Camp Jupiter

4:09

is no joke. I really like how

4:11

they establish in son of Neptune when

4:13

we're kicking off with the Roman side of

4:15

this world that's been so expansive for

4:17

so long. How do we establish that

4:19

the two different camps have their own individual

4:21

identities? We show kind of the rigorous,

4:23

the vitriol side of Camp Jupiter and

4:25

you feel it right away. Yeah, definitely feeling

4:28

more intense. Now at this point I

4:30

was guessing, okay, Centurions, they didn't explain

4:32

it yet, feels like that's gonna be cabin

4:34

leaders, but we'll just have to see.

4:36

Hazel tripped over this gold bar. Nico tried

4:38

to catch her, but he just missed.

4:40

Hazel scraped her hands. Nico almost grabs

4:42

the gold bar, but Hazel stops him. And

4:44

Nico almost forgot about this curse. He

4:47

then gives her some nectar, it cures

4:49

the wounds, and they both look at the

4:51

gold bar and they notice that it's

4:53

the size of a loaf of bread.

4:55

It has a serial number on it, and

4:57

it also says U.S. Treasury imprinted on

4:59

it. And Niko asks, how in Tartarus,

5:01

which I love when they do this, like

5:03

the translation of how in the hell,

5:05

like that's always great. And Hazel says

5:07

she isn't sure, and then explains that her

5:10

curse removes valuables hidden or buried in

5:12

the ground. vault, quote, whatever is in

5:14

the ground, anywhere close to me, it just

5:16

pops up, and the more valuable it

5:18

is, and then Nico finishes by saying,

5:20

the more dangerous it is. I know everything

5:22

is rooted in mythology, so like, there's

5:24

a canonical explanation for why this makes

5:26

sense. I just love when franchises get to

5:29

this point to where you can go

5:31

so absurd with the rules and regulations

5:33

you established. Like, if Hazel's condition was something

5:35

that was brought up in like the

5:37

lightning thief, I think readers would have been

5:39

like books. of this grand cannon.

5:41

like all right

5:43

bear with me right, are

5:46

coming up from

5:48

the ground and you

5:50

can't touch it or

5:52

else you're gonna

5:54

be cursed the ground and

5:56

just like yeah yeah touch

5:58

it sense else you're coins

6:00

be cursed. And or swords

6:02

is like all just like,

6:05

very yeah. by comparison

6:07

yeah are going up

6:09

and there was someone

6:11

you were telling me

6:13

in the green

6:15

room obviously no spoilers

6:17

but the rules just

6:19

get like, pens book

6:21

especially goes on yes

6:23

so and it will

6:25

or swords. stuff is

6:27

gonna come swords is like, whackier. Nico

6:30

asks, oh, oh, should we hide this bar so

6:32

that the fawns don't get to it? to it?

6:34

narrator hazel imagines a scene of fawns

6:36

getting torched by a mushroom cloud. And at

6:38

this point, I have not really learned

6:40

like the full extent of the curse, the

6:42

just kind of like bad things that were

6:45

happening to those dudes in New Orleans. to

6:47

So I don't know how intense the

6:49

curse is how intense cloud of fawns is on

6:51

the table, but but... sort of situation. So

6:53

very intense. Seemingly, she explains that

6:55

the gold bar should sink underground

6:57

once she leaves, to just to be

6:59

sure. at the bar, points at the bar,

7:01

and concentrates, to and and begins to

7:03

hover off of the ground. She

7:05

focuses her anger on it, which

7:07

isn't hard to do given how

7:10

frustrating the curse is for her

7:12

life. then the then the gold gets

7:14

very hot, a makes a fist, and

7:16

the gold bends into an enormous

7:18

golden ring the hedgehog. Hedgehog. she And

7:20

then she towards towards the ground, ground, quote.

7:22

million dollar donuts into the earth. It

7:24

sank so deep nothing was left

7:26

but a scar of fresh dirt.

7:28

And this is rules. I'm excited for excited

7:30

for Hazel, that's so cool. approval approval

7:32

too, when he gives her kind

7:34

of the of like, whoa, that's that's pretty

7:36

good. He says that was terrifying,

7:38

which coming from from Nico Diangelo, ugh. But Hazel

7:40

Yeah, and but Hazel recognizes it

7:42

too, she recognizes how that kind

7:44

of validation from her brother a lot

7:46

a lot to her and it's

7:49

fun to it it coming from Nico

7:51

because we obviously all know his

7:53

arc his arc throughout Jackson books of

7:55

being such being such lost cause, a like

7:57

a lost sailor, trying to find

7:59

his way through camp half blood and the

8:01

fact that he's now in this leadership position

8:03

where other people seek his validation. It's a

8:05

nice check points throughout his grand character arc

8:07

that we all know goes on for for

8:09

quite many more books. Yeah, I'm excited to

8:11

see how the Nico work develops. I do

8:13

appreciate like this is just a very different

8:15

Nico. And as these two chapters go on,

8:17

we get to see a very different Nico.

8:20

We get to see a very different Nico.

8:22

And as these two chapters go on, we

8:24

get to see a very different. We get

8:26

to see a very different Nico. And I

8:28

want to add to really quickly. House of

8:30

Hades just came out in release with Wrath

8:32

of the Triple Goddess. And so I bought

8:34

Son of Neptune a while ago, and it

8:36

stayed on my shelf forever. I never like

8:38

actually read it. I just liked having it

8:40

on the shelf. And so in preparation for

8:42

the show, I was like, we'll do two

8:44

mediums, we'll get the text, we'll get the

8:47

visual. The way Nico is drawn in the

8:49

Hearesolipus graphic novel is awesome. That's all I'll

8:51

say. That's just encouragement to go read the

8:53

graphic novels, support comics, support comics, support comics,

8:55

it. It's support comics, it. It's great, it.

8:57

It's great, it. I got other books to

8:59

read first. So, Hazel thinks that this is

9:01

nothing in comparison to what Nico can do,

9:03

but it does make her feel good that

9:05

she impressed him for once as opposed to

9:07

usually being the other way around. Then, the

9:09

horns blow again and they rush so that

9:11

they aren't late. narrator Hazel says that even

9:13

though she's been at the camp for nine

9:16

months, she still finds the assembly of the

9:18

legion to be intimidating. Not as the first

9:20

time, but it's still a sight to behold.

9:22

The first four cohorts of 40 kids each

9:24

stand and rose, in front of their barracks

9:26

on each side of the via Praetoria. And

9:28

the fifth cohort is at the very end,

9:30

in front of the Prinkipia, since their barracks

9:32

are in the corner of the camp near

9:34

the stables and the latrines. I meant to

9:36

Google Latrines, but it feels like bathroom. Yep,

9:38

yes, okay, yep, all right, a toilet or

9:40

outhouse, okay, so especially a communal one in

9:42

a camper barracks. Okay, so that's not great.

9:45

I mean, we're learning learning more about cohort

9:47

about cohort five in these chapters. It doesn't

9:49

really feel like they've been set up for

9:51

success. Like, it is no mystery as to

9:53

why they are not necessarily the most well-thought-of

9:55

cohort in the camp. And I kind of

9:57

want to know Chicken or the Egg, like,

9:59

we learned that they did some stuff that

10:01

angered the camp? Did they then say, all

10:03

right, well, now you have to be near

10:05

the bathrooms? Or, like, what, are they already

10:07

near the bathrooms? And they're like, oh, of

10:09

course, the toilet kids ruined it again! That's

10:12

a really good point. I never thought of

10:14

like the geography of their placement at camp

10:16

as to whether it was punishment or it

10:18

just changed after what happened with everything that

10:20

was described as what we will get to.

10:22

But yeah, this is like classic Rick Rired

10:24

in story structure of establishing like this group,

10:26

this character, this God is not in high

10:28

place right now and we're not going to

10:30

tell you why. and we're gonna slowly unravel

10:32

and then you start to build sympathy and

10:34

then we get the redemption arc and all

10:36

that and yeah definitely rereading these chapters it

10:38

made me feel for the fifth cohort and

10:41

like I want to see them succeed and

10:43

specifically I want to see them succeed with

10:45

our new characters those being hazel and Frank

10:47

like this whole situation has made them such

10:49

rootable protagonists which of course you want to

10:51

root for your protagonists but still having that

10:53

like level of sympathy again classic Rick yeah

10:55

I'll get into it but I think it's

10:57

a different vibe and there's something that's coming

10:59

that's coming up that really I think makes

11:01

that quite clear. So hazel sprints down the

11:03

middle of the legion to get to her

11:05

spot. Everyone is dressed for war, including chain

11:08

mail and grieves. On top of their camp

11:10

attire, they have sword and skull designs on

11:12

their helmets, and they have leather combat boots

11:14

with iron cleats. And in front of the

11:16

campers, they have sword and skull designs on

11:18

their helmets, and they have leather combat boots

11:20

with iron cleats, and in front. of other

11:22

equipment and I'm wondering why do they have

11:24

so much stuff? Isn't this just there capture

11:26

the flag? Like why do you have 100

11:28

pounds of things? Like even when I overstuff

11:30

my suitcase ridiculously, I don't get to 100

11:32

pounds. I get I'm not bringing not

11:34

bringing like stuff and

11:37

stuff, but still a

11:39

hundred pounds of stuff

11:41

in addition other the other

11:43

stuff got that feels like

11:45

too much stuff a

11:47

shield the size of

11:49

a refrigerator door is

11:51

is why you travel

11:53

on on Amtrak because you're not getting that

11:55

through Yes. Oh, no an

11:57

Amtrak on was great.

11:59

I got to up a

12:01

up a whole bag bag is

12:04

so much more merch

12:06

at the merch table

12:08

than I normally bring

12:10

because I didn't have

12:12

to sit on my

12:14

suitcase have to I just

12:16

brought a bunch of

12:18

stuff and then please

12:20

buy it so that

12:22

my back doesn't hurt

12:24

as much on the

12:26

way home a bunch of stuff. Also

12:28

refrigerator door what's fun about fun about

12:30

that is that it's all relative talk you could

12:33

talk about like a New York apartment refrigerator

12:35

door There's gonna be a lot smaller than

12:37

like a than like a Texas double door door of my

12:39

favorite things things sister who lives in Texas Texas

12:41

once for the baby shower She was like

12:43

doing party prep stuff like was in her apartment

12:45

You know making like food put in the

12:47

fridge and then she goes is this the

12:49

only fridge the have then I was like is this

12:52

the only fridge you have I live in

12:54

an apartment. Where would there be

12:56

another fridge? another fridge? classic Texas. So So Classic Texas

12:58

they have garages and then they

13:00

have second fridges in their garage. I

13:02

know, in wild, wild. wild, And it's And

13:04

for beer. for beer. I grew up with

13:06

a garage fridge in Braintree, now as

13:08

a new resident of Brooklyn we have

13:10

one small one door fridge by by

13:13

myself and three other roommates. so we're

13:15

we're on a rotation of when we

13:17

can buy groceries because it can't get

13:19

over stuffed with more people's week-long amounts of

13:21

food at once, once. So yeah, the shield, you're

13:23

right. that refrigerator needs to be specified.

13:25

be Is that a New York

13:27

refrigerator? New York refrigerator, in Massachusetts? It

13:30

could be wildly different, but they've got a

13:32

whole bunch of stuff. I'm confused by it. Now, Rita

13:34

says that simply walking around with all of this

13:36

stuff is enough of a workout to get

13:38

you into shape even if you come to camp

13:40

out of shape. as Now, just as everyone is

13:42

coming to attention, that is when Hazel and

13:45

Nico So they stick so they stick out like sore

13:47

thumbs. This reminds me of when I was a

13:49

tour guide at Rice, I would I would show up like at the

13:51

up at the last I was it right before

13:53

a supposed to give a tour started they

13:55

would 10 in the morning the morning get I

13:57

would get there and 30 seconds 30 seconds when

13:59

they've all. like lined up people outside of where

14:01

they get the tour guide and I would

14:04

be like longboarding rapidly through the quad like

14:06

jump off kick and catch my hands like

14:08

hi I'm like I'm a mechanical engineering major

14:10

and business minor out of my hands at

14:12

college and then all the like 14 year

14:14

old boys would be like mom dad can

14:16

we go on the tour with him because

14:19

you got to like pick based on whatever

14:21

you know major they were but like I

14:23

was very cool in that I was very

14:25

late and not as prepared as I should

14:27

have been but it worked out. But they

14:29

stick out and of course when they arrive

14:31

Octavian who is the head of the first

14:34

cohort is smirking and he's just looking very

14:36

smug and narrator Hazel also notes that he's

14:38

got a dozen medals on his chest so

14:40

clearly not only is he in this important

14:42

position where he's the augur and he's the

14:44

head of the first cohort but he's also

14:47

clearly well versed in battle and does well

14:49

at these war games. Yeah to go back

14:51

to what I was saying but the rules

14:53

being absurd at this level and us all

14:55

willing to go a... with it. The cutting

14:57

open of the stuffed animals was one of

14:59

those things I read that and I was

15:02

like, what are we doing here? But like

15:04

I'm kind of here for it. And again,

15:06

another plug for the graphic novel. I have

15:08

no relation to the graphic novel by the

15:10

way. Yeah, we're not getting paid by TV.

15:12

I'm just a very big fan of the

15:15

visual medium and the graphic novel is a

15:17

good explanation of like, well, back in the

15:19

day they would cut open actual animals and

15:21

like read their insides for... prophecy or whatever

15:23

and that's the reason why stuffed in was

15:25

it's the classic rick pgifying the situation right

15:27

like with Dakota and the cool aid versus

15:30

the wine and stuff like that and it's

15:32

fun to kind of take those things that

15:34

you know we're so Basically are rated in

15:36

Greek mythology and be like no how do

15:38

we do it for a kids audience and

15:40

have it make sense? Here we go It's

15:42

probably a fun challenge for Rick to have

15:45

the more intense things and be like okay

15:47

How do I make this more age appropriate

15:49

and then? Also make it fun like I'm

15:51

sure it's a fun challenge It's like when

15:53

I'm doing these shows and making this podcast

15:55

all ages like I've not said curse words

15:58

on the So it's more fun to come

16:00

up with like, what's a synonym? Like I

16:02

bust out the mental thesaurus. Like what's a

16:04

word that really conveys my emotions that isn't

16:06

just like expletive. So it's sometimes a fun

16:08

challenge when you have to do things a

16:10

certain way for a certain audience. My favorite

16:13

example of that. Anyhow I met your mother

16:15

fans in here. When they eat a sandwich,

16:17

right? That's my favorite example. Yeah, it's good.

16:19

And when you're old enough you might get

16:21

what the reference is, but not yet. Hazel

16:23

is very upset at the blackmail threats from

16:26

Octavian and rightfully so since he did threaten

16:28

her with blackmail. She wishes to herself that

16:30

anyone else at camp besides him was the

16:32

one who learned her secret, but alas, it's

16:34

him. Apparently he learned weeks ago, and he's

16:36

just been keeping this information secret as leverage

16:38

since it is more useful and more advantageous

16:41

to him seeking power to have something as

16:43

leverage than to, you know, embarrass her or

16:45

tell people whatever. She wishes that she had

16:47

kept the bar of gold from earlier in

16:49

the chapter so that she could chuck it

16:51

at his face. Great especially if she did

16:53

the ring for him and then like what

16:56

the golden ring right in his head would

16:58

have been great Hazel then passes Rayna who

17:00

is atop her Pegasus named Skippio, which goes

17:02

by Skippio, because he's the color of peanut

17:04

butter. Now if Rayna came up with this

17:06

nickname, I gotta do a 180. I'm all

17:09

in on Rayna. If someone else came up

17:11

with this nickname, I'm all in on Rayna.

17:13

If someone else came up with this nickname,

17:15

I'm all in with this nickname. when you

17:17

first meet her, but yeah, starts to show

17:19

her humanity a little bit more. We'll see.

17:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, also by Rheneside are

17:24

her two metallic dog friends that we've met

17:26

before, and she's wearing a purple officer's cape,

17:28

and I'm wondering at this point, okay, what's

17:30

the difference between an officer and a centurion?

17:32

Are they the same? Are they different? We'll

17:34

continue. and she knows that knows

17:37

that even though she's

17:39

missing most of her

17:41

equipment, she should take her

17:43

place her place the lineup

17:45

to to Frank. And

17:47

now I'm realizing, is Frank

17:49

is also in five. I

17:52

I don't think that

17:54

was necessarily said before.

17:56

Hazel said she was

17:58

in it. Now we've

18:00

got Frank in cohort

18:02

five cohort five and says Hazel

18:04

says that. their lead centurion is

18:07

a boy -old boy named

18:09

Dakota. Now Dakota finally

18:11

gets referenced in this

18:13

book. He got very at

18:15

the very end of

18:17

The Lost Hero all

18:20

Jason all of a

18:22

sudden was like, oh oh

18:24

right, I have four friends

18:26

and here are their

18:28

names. names. - names. just left

18:30

in the book. left in next one! next one!

18:32

And on a whim, I had a whim, I had

18:34

just guessed that Dakota was gonna be one

18:36

of the because Kelly just like. like. Pick the

18:38

seven and I was like, like, uh, Hazel and

18:41

Dakota. So it seems like I'm gonna

18:43

be 50 like I'm in those two guesses, but

18:45

two guesses, glad that Dakota finally showed up,

18:47

and he was just calling Hazel's name as

18:49

she arrived. the She is the last one

18:51

on the roll, she so technically, so she

18:53

wasn't late, so I appreciate it with her kinship

18:55

with her up I do things up until

18:57

the last minute kind of guy, so I'm

18:59

online with Hazel there. I wish wish you

19:01

had as much cool points as you, though.

19:03

It didn't seem like were were ready to

19:06

follow Hazel once a battle, battle, ready to

19:08

follow you. ready to tour. you on a tour.

19:10

learn about learn about Rice University! Nico joins Percy,

19:12

who's off off to the side with

19:14

a few guards. and And Percy

19:16

has clearly just come from a

19:18

bath because his hair is still

19:20

wet and he's wearing fresh clothes,

19:23

but he still looks uneasy. looks uneasy. And

19:25

can't blame him, blame he was

19:27

about to be introduced to heavily

19:29

armed heavily armed kids. So ghosts from before, they file in

19:31

from before they sort them out. and

19:33

the shouts sort them out, standard shouts

19:36

colors, forward. They have step forward. They have

19:38

and each one of each one of them

19:40

is holding a pole with their cohorts

19:42

emblem on it And the last to

19:44

show a standard is a boy named

19:46

Jacob the is the eagle-bearer, and he has

19:48

a long pole with nothing on top

19:50

of it and it is a huge is

19:52

a huge honor But Jacob despises it all learn

19:54

all the context of this later but at least

19:56

when I was reading this I was like,

19:58

okay, there was something when he met Reina that

20:00

looked like there was supposed to be

20:02

something here and it was empty. Maybe

20:04

this is that. Reina insists on following

20:06

the tradition, but every time Hazel sees

20:08

the eagleless pole raised, so clearly an

20:10

eagle was supposed to be here, she

20:12

just feels this embarrassment surging throughout the

20:14

entire camp. And then I realized, you

20:16

know, I really don't know. almost anything

20:19

about this book aside from the cover

20:21

which does have a black-haired boy which

20:23

I believe I guess could be Negro

20:25

or Percy no one say anything but

20:27

then also there is an eagle so

20:29

the three things I kind of know

20:31

is like boy in snow place with

20:33

eagle and so far we've got our

20:35

two boys we've got snow placed with

20:37

Alaska being referenced and now eagle so

20:39

I'm like great the cover over we're

20:41

good like I don't have any more

20:43

spoilers I think I think I don't

20:45

have any more spoilers I think I

20:47

think I'm okay. Jackson fans is like.

20:49

the coolest cover that Rick has done.

20:51

I feel like I've seen that pretty

20:53

much like people are like, this is

20:55

it, this is one of one. I

20:57

think of all the ones I've seen

20:59

so far, it goes the hardest. And

21:01

it's just funny with like the books

21:03

that I have for reading the books,

21:05

I just have for reading the books,

21:07

I just have for reading the books,

21:09

I just have for reading the books,

21:11

I just have an assortment of used

21:13

books, and some of them are the

21:15

hard covers, so I'll business expensive. you

21:17

go. So I just got this like

21:19

hodgepodge of the books, but that was

21:21

one of them. And I remember just

21:24

seeing this cover and being like, whatever

21:26

that is, that looks cool. And now,

21:28

you know, four, I guess not four

21:30

years, a couple years later after buying

21:32

it, I'm now getting to see. And

21:34

I'm glad that we're only like six

21:36

chapters in and the spoilers gone because

21:38

the other one had our three friends

21:40

flying on Festus, which was like. Kind

21:42

of far into the book, like the

21:44

whole time Leo's like, is it gonna

21:46

get the dragon to work? I'm like,

21:48

yes, he's definitely gonna get the dragon

21:50

to work. I've seen the cover of

21:52

the book, so I'm stoked that I

21:54

truly from this point on, I don't

21:56

know anything, even reading these, I don't

21:58

know who the next narrator is. I

22:00

do now, because I... I've prepped for

22:02

the show that's after this, but at

22:04

the time of reading, I was like,

22:06

who's an ex-nerator? So, anyway, Percy Jackson,

22:08

that we gotta talk about here. So

22:10

I'm thinking, I wonder if the quest

22:12

of this book is going to be

22:14

to retrieve the eagle. And then I

22:16

realized, oh, we've got a missing eagle,

22:18

and we also have a missing Jason,

22:20

the perfect American plot for our American

22:22

boy, Jason. We gotta find the eagle

22:24

under eagle. Reina then stops cantering on

22:26

the Pegasus and addresses the campers. She

22:29

gives a bit of an intro to

22:31

the Percy Jackson situation for anyone unaware.

22:33

It's a camp full of teenagers. Word

22:35

has spread. But she gives a little

22:37

brief recap for anyone who doesn't know

22:39

what's up. Percy just waves and says,

22:41

hi, fantastic, fantastic. And then Reina asks

22:43

Octavian if the entrails permit his admittance

22:45

into the legion. And Octavian says they

22:47

approve, the campers yell, Ave, Ave. Hale.

22:49

And Frank was slightly late with his

22:51

off. So it sounded like a high

22:53

pitch echo, which causes some campers to

22:55

giggle. And once this happened, I wrote,

22:57

OK, he's going to root for it

22:59

like you were saying. Yeah, it's the

23:01

start of a lengthy arc, you know,

23:03

it's, we have a whole book series

23:05

to get through with Frank in these

23:07

characters. Little things like this at the

23:09

beginning, because I'm now rereading the Heroes

23:11

of Olympus. So the first time I

23:13

was reading the series, you don't pick

23:15

up on those nuances that you're privy

23:17

to on the second read, and like,

23:19

especially seeing little things like that. I'm

23:21

like, Frank, I'm excited for you to

23:23

like. Hopefully come into your own. Yes.

23:25

Well, there's a lot to see. Narrator

23:27

Hazle then says, quote, rain a motion

23:29

the senior officers forward, one from each

23:31

cohort. Octavian is the most senior centurion

23:34

turned to Percy. So then a Roman.

23:36

Okay, seems like officer and centurion are

23:38

the same thing. One just sounds more

23:40

Roman, but they feel synonymous at least

23:42

to me at this point. He asks

23:44

Percy if he has any credentials or

23:46

references. And Hazel remembers, oh, right, this

23:48

is a thing. A good letter can

23:50

get you into a good cohort, it

23:52

can get you a good job, or

23:54

it can help you avoid grunt work,

23:56

like conjugating Latin verbs. That's not grunt

23:58

work. That's fun! That's a great. Tuesday.

24:00

Percy says no. When Percy says a

24:02

judging face. Hazel makes a judging face, then

24:04

wants to protest, if any Octavian asks if

24:06

any for will stand for Percy. Frank

24:08

volunteers and explains that Percy saved

24:11

his life, but then people begin to

24:13

grumble, and Reina makes it clear

24:15

that the reason for the grumbling is

24:17

because Frank is on probation, on and

24:19

I forgot that he was on that

24:21

he was on probato and I wrote him out, did we

24:23

learn what he did yet? did yet?

24:25

didn't, but we'll get it soon. it soon.

24:28

She does drop a juicy mortal in

24:30

her scolding Frank hasn't been claimed yet, which yet,

24:32

which is very interesting. It's been a

24:34

little bit since we've had a, oh, I wonder who

24:36

this wonder who this person's parent is

24:38

gonna be because I feel like the Jason

24:40

and Leo Jason and Leo Lost pretty early

24:42

on in The Lost of So it's fun

24:44

to kind of have that and those reveals were,

24:46

I'd say and those reveals like I'd say

24:48

pretty obvious. Like I feel like I

24:50

could have picked out who their parents

24:52

were gonna be. be. I don't think I

24:54

knew who Frank's parent was going to

24:56

be before the reveal. I don't think

24:58

I had a very solid guess, which

25:01

is is... Awesome because it's so rare that

25:03

that happens in these books. I

25:05

remember Cheap plug plug, when I talked with

25:07

James Boben, who directed the first

25:09

two episodes of episodes and season about the

25:11

reveal of Percy getting the at the

25:13

end of episode claimed at the he was

25:15

like, well, it's he right? like Well, it's obvious

25:17

Poseidon, the sum up in the logo. we got

25:19

like, yeah, of course there's moments

25:21

where you can't have that shock value.

25:24

And I love that even now I

25:26

love books into this canon, books Rick

25:28

still finds new ways to deliver genuine

25:30

shock value. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very excited to

25:32

see what ends up happening with

25:34

Frank's claiming, but but it was

25:36

good because you're totally right. least

25:38

some of the other totally right. At with

25:40

a bolt of lightning. like, makes

25:42

water move around like multiple times.

25:44

Some of them are pretty simple,

25:46

but this one them not easy to

25:48

guess. but this Now and not final note

25:50

is that he and therefore anyone cannot stand

25:52

for another camper until he has

25:54

his first is Frank is

25:56

incredibly embarrassed, but then Hazel steps up

25:58

because she doesn't to... him hanging and

26:00

she explains that Percy saved both of

26:02

their lives. So she will stand for

26:04

Percy as a full member of the

26:06

Legion. Frank appreciates this. The other campers

26:08

still grumble because she's only barely eligible

26:10

since she only has just one stripe

26:12

and she earned it within the month

26:14

and narrator Hizle tells us that her

26:17

active valor was mostly an accident. And

26:19

it also doesn't help that her dad

26:21

is Pluto and she's in cohort five,

26:23

two things that don't have good reputations

26:25

at the camp. So Reina scrunges her

26:27

face and looks to Octavian, who gives

26:29

the look of amusement in return. And

26:31

Hazel thinks that he ought to just

26:33

do it. And I'm thinking, oh, just

26:35

put him in cohort five. Because it

26:37

will make Percy less of a threat.

26:39

And Octavian likes to put all of

26:41

his enemies into one place. So this

26:43

dude is on full-fledged abusive power mode.

26:45

Like I had already worried that he's

26:47

not being fully truthful about the Jason.

26:49

truly trying to manipulate and pull strings

26:51

and marionette. puppet it and it feels

26:53

very delorous umbrage where like I already

26:55

really dislike this guy but I could

26:57

see this guy being more hated than

26:59

whoever you know like Gia or whoever

27:01

the other villain ends up being in

27:03

this one because there's something about the

27:05

like abusive power angle that's more frustrating

27:07

because I think it feels more real

27:09

to us we've all dealt with someone

27:11

with an abusive power type of situation

27:13

we haven't all dealt with Mother Earth

27:15

coming to life in trying to defeat

27:17

us. Yeah, thank you for using the

27:19

word hate with Octavian cuz I hate

27:21

Octavian like I hate his character like

27:23

there's there's shades of gray in so

27:25

many of the other villains like I'm

27:27

a bit of a luke defender. I

27:29

must admit like I love that character

27:31

I love his layers I honestly like

27:33

a lot of his mission statement against

27:35

the gods. He's like he's got something

27:37

He just goes about it in the

27:39

worst way possible. Yeah, good thesis statement,

27:41

bad body paragraphs. Right. Yeah, you got

27:43

the first page of his essay. and

27:45

you're like, okay, and then paragraph one's

27:47

beginning, it's like, okay, so I'm gonna

27:49

team up with the Lord of Time,

27:51

be like, oh, his bibliography is not

27:53

good. But, gender slide on the PowerPoint,

27:55

great, slide one proper. But on the

27:57

flipside, Octavian sucks. And I hate Octavian.

27:59

I'm really excited to have just like

28:01

a universally hated character that we can

28:03

all despise together, because what better way

28:05

to bring people together than mutual hate

28:07

over the same person? And also I

28:09

want to add too, he's not just

28:11

like a villain for the sake of

28:13

like a mustache twirling villain, you will

28:15

understand where he's coming from, like all

28:17

good villains, but no part of you

28:20

empathizes with where he's coming from. That's

28:22

a good point. So that's why it's

28:24

like, it could be so easy for

28:26

Rick to write characters, super black and

28:28

white of like, these are heroes, these

28:30

are our villains. And like, we see

28:32

Percy's got shades of gray within him.

28:34

quite literally, right? Titan's great. And so

28:36

it's cool that Octavian, like, I would

28:38

not call him a black and white

28:40

character. I would still say he exists

28:42

somewhere in like a layered context. Right.

28:44

But you can still go down the

28:46

checkpoints of his characteristics and be like.

28:48

Awful person, awful person, awful person. Yeah,

28:50

he's layer, it's just every layer is

28:52

bad. Yes. Reina approves of Hazel standing

28:54

for Percy and asks if her cohort

28:56

accepts him and the narrator Hazel says,

28:58

quote, the other cohorts started coughing, trying

29:00

not to laugh. Hazel knew what they

29:02

were thinking, another loser for the fifth,

29:04

and you adults, you just wait until

29:06

you learn who Percy Jackson is. Gosh,

29:08

what a bunch of jokes. Now, previously,

29:10

I had praised this cabin system thinking

29:12

that it's better to have, like diversity

29:14

in terms of the different godly. parentage.

29:16

But this is also a terrible system.

29:18

The only way that could work is

29:20

if it's randomly assigned. That is what

29:22

all of the cabins and everything should

29:24

be, because now you do have the

29:26

benefit of the diversity of different godly

29:28

parents and stuff, but there's just too

29:30

much politic in going on. If one

29:32

dude can pick what cohorts people go

29:34

in or like certain people have to

29:36

stand up for certain people, like you're

29:38

gonna get into a... lot of situations

29:40

where a certain group isn't going to

29:42

want to take a person, like if

29:44

this feels more like proper sorority fraternity

29:46

stuff, where it's like very self-selective, even

29:48

though anyone can try to, I don't

29:50

know how, Bryce didn't have a real

29:52

Greek life, so I don't know how

29:54

it all works, but like, it just

29:56

feels like this is going to be,

29:58

you're going to get more hibonginous groups,

30:00

even if they're from different godly parentage,

30:02

it seems like they're going to have

30:04

their vibes, But in terms of me

30:06

thinking of like the logistics of Cam

30:08

Jupiter, we gotta solve this problem. This

30:10

isn't good. They're also not doing it

30:12

right. It's also funny because it's Greek

30:14

life in a Roman camp. Oh my

30:16

god, you're right. I don't know, that

30:18

kind of system, maybe they're not as

30:20

different as they think they are. Oh

30:23

my gosh, yeah, geez, gross. Anyway, Frank

30:25

pounds his shield on the ground, the

30:27

other members of the fifth join in,

30:29

though they don't have much enthusiasm much

30:31

enthusiasm. You fools! You fools! You fools!

30:33

But honestly, this is so fun. Like,

30:35

it's so fun in contrast with the

30:37

Lost Hero for us to be the

30:39

smarty pants that know everything that's going

30:41

on and being like, they'll learn. Cohort's

30:43

fives, centurions, Dakota, and Gwen give Percy

30:45

a look of, here we go again,

30:47

but Dakota accepts Percy on behalf of

30:49

his cohort. Reina gives Percy a look

30:51

of pity when she informs him that

30:53

he is on probatio. So I'm like,

30:55

oh, he has to deal with this

30:57

too, boo. And he will be given

30:59

a tablet with his name and cohort,

31:01

and in one year, or once he

31:03

completes an act of valor, which I'm

31:05

assuming will be at the end of

31:07

the end of the end of the

31:09

book. He will become a full member

31:11

of the 12th Legion fulminate, and her

31:13

little explanation ends with, quote, serve Rome,

31:15

obey the rules of the Legion, and

31:17

defend the camp with honor. Sinatus, Populescue,

31:19

Romanus, which is SBQR, the Legion Cheers,

31:21

echoing, Cheers, Echoing it, and the narrator

31:23

Hazel says, Raina wheeled her Pegasus away

31:25

from Percy, like she was glad to

31:27

be done with him. Skippy spread his

31:29

were her officers only. or barbarian cavalry,

31:31

not for Roman legionaries. So she's for

31:33

sure for sure getting

31:35

a horse. I

31:37

don't know which horse

31:39

she's going to

31:41

get, but this does

31:43

open the door

31:45

for, door for, is coming

31:47

back in this book?

31:49

in this book? Oh, could be.

31:51

Very fun. just I'm

31:53

just gonna look

31:55

at my notes and

31:57

not at anyone's

31:59

face, face, I don't

32:01

want I spoilers, but

32:03

if he comes back

32:05

he be so fun.

32:07

if it would also

32:09

be so fun fun.

32:11

If Blackjack is the

32:13

one who spoils

32:15

the whole plan of

32:17

keeping Percy Blackjack comes in

32:19

Blackjack comes in

32:21

to save the day,

32:24

and it's like, boss,

32:26

what's going on? is is

32:28

your shirt purple? What's

32:30

the deal? It just gives the entire

32:32

entire back story. Yeah, your dad's beside it. be so funny

32:34

funny completely blows it. blows it. Reina alerts the

32:36

campers that they have an hour for

32:38

dinner and then they will meet on

32:40

the field of Mars for war for war games.

32:42

one and two are defending. Cohorts three,

32:44

four and five are attacking. Then they all cheer.

32:46

all cheer. bigger There's a bigger cheer

32:48

for war than there there was for which I think

32:50

which I think is funny because they're

32:52

basically saying like, we like you new

32:54

guy, but we like food and beating

32:56

the crap out of each other way

32:58

more than you. way more than you. What's interesting

33:00

to me me is that there isn't more of a

33:02

positive reaction for Percy being on the cohort.

33:04

Like being he did to get into the

33:06

camp was still very impressive. Like didn't other

33:08

people see him was the river, defeat the Gorgons,

33:11

all this kind of stuff? Like people saw

33:13

all of this and they're going, nah, this

33:15

guy's a loser. What are you talking about?

33:17

This guy seems cool. I guess it's all

33:19

going back to the Neptune people saw of why

33:21

they don't like him. But I don't know,

33:23

he feels like someone you would want to

33:25

have in the cohort. I don't understand. this

33:27

there's also the echoes of like what happened in

33:29

the lightning thief he was introduced to Camp Half

33:31

to camp half-blood because sure him was like this

33:33

is the guy that defeated the guy that defeated

33:35

then you have like but then you people from

33:37

the people from were just like who were just like

33:39

were by him we're also not going to

33:41

show that we're intimidated we're

33:43

just going to like belittle and try

33:46

to bully him bully him feel like Aries

33:48

is arguably the that is most aligned

33:50

with Camp Jupiter because of like how he

33:52

he is and it seems like that

33:54

method is everywhere in Camp Jupiter and so

33:56

I feel feel like a lot of those

33:58

campers that and I'm and I'm getting sidetrack because when

34:00

you mentioned blackjack possibly coming in and like

34:02

spoiling everything it made me think of do

34:05

you guys remember the Drake and Josh Save

34:07

Christmas movie? when Crazy Steve comes in and

34:09

he's like, make sure Drake and Josh, you

34:11

guys do this charity work because you're not

34:13

doing it out of the kindness of your

34:15

heart, but because you have to do it

34:18

to get out of like jail time. And

34:20

that just made me think, Jerry Trainer should

34:22

really voice Blackjack. Okay, okay. I think it

34:24

would be, it would be awesome. I'm very

34:26

excited to see whoever they pick for it.

34:28

My personal pick would be Jack Black to

34:31

be Black Jack, would just be to you

34:33

got, you got, you got it, he's so

34:35

fun, he's so fun, he's so fun, he's

34:37

so fun. So fun, he's so fun, so

34:39

fun, so fun, so fun, so fun. So

34:41

fun, so fun, so fun, so fun, so

34:44

fun, so fun. So, so fun, so fun,

34:46

so fun, so fun. So, so fun, so

34:48

fun, so fun, so fun, so fun, so

34:50

fun, so fun, so fun, so fun, so

34:52

fun, so Niko. And Niko says, good job

34:54

sis. That took guts standing for him. And

34:57

I thought, did it? He's clearly an asset.

34:59

But then we will learn why it actually

35:01

did take guts. She notes that Niko has

35:03

never called her this before. And she wonders,

35:05

I wonder if that's what he called Bianca.

35:07

Does he like me now? Percy is given

35:09

his probatio nameplate. And then I recalled, oh

35:12

right, Frank had one of these. This makes

35:14

sense. He strings. He strings. If I had

35:16

seen that, I would have been like, why

35:18

is there a square in a bunch of

35:20

beads? So I'm glad that that never happened.

35:22

And now I gotta wonder, because I've got

35:25

the beads there. and then I'm gonna make

35:27

beads whenever I do like hears of Olympus

35:29

and stuff too. And I wonder like, oh,

35:31

should I also make like a probatio thing?

35:33

How am I gonna do that? Like him

35:35

just doing the simple act of putting him

35:38

on the necklace had me very intrigued in

35:40

a lot of different directions. But then, Percy,

35:42

thanks, Hazel, and asks, what does standing for

35:44

me mean? And she says, quote, I guarantee

35:46

your good behavior. And I was like, oh,

35:48

for Percy, oh! I teach you the rules,

35:51

answer your questions, and make sure you don't

35:53

disgrace the legion. And then Percy goes, and

35:55

if I do something wrong, and she says,

35:57

then I get killed along with you. Hungry?

35:59

Let's eat. So yeah, that actually is very

36:01

brave of her. I stand fully corrected. That

36:04

is high stakes, especially for our boy, Percy.

36:06

Hopefully no one at this camp is similar

36:08

to Mr. Dee. is the end of chapter

36:10

seven, which I have retitled, I unintentionally rob

36:12

a bank, hearkening back to the stealing of

36:14

the goal bar early, early on. Do you

36:17

have a retital of chapter seven? That's a

36:19

really good question. I don't know if I

36:21

can top that. One thing I was gonna

36:23

say on the Hazel and Nico front, just

36:25

kind of echoing what I said earlier about

36:27

how great it is to like have his

36:29

approval mean something. The CIS line is great

36:32

and it's also funny too because Bianca and

36:34

the grand scheme of things is such like

36:36

her page time, her screen time and the

36:38

whole series is so minimal. Yet here we

36:40

are book seven into this grand franchise and

36:42

her impact is still. prevalent. I think that's

36:45

awesome because if and when, you know, knock

36:47

on what God willing we get to season

36:49

three of the TV show, whoever the cast

36:51

is Bianca, like sure, you might only be

36:53

around for a season, but like your impact

36:55

within this lore is going to be like...

36:58

eternal. So that's awesome. I don't think I

37:00

have a better title. That's fine. All good.

37:02

We will now move on to Chapter 8.

37:04

We'll do a little bit of that before

37:06

we break for intermission. So Chapter 8 also

37:08

called Hazel. We'll re title it. It begins

37:11

with quote, at least the camp food was

37:13

good. I'm glad the food is good. That's

37:15

very important to me. It continues and the

37:17

food scene is very fun. Or I waited

37:19

on the campers and seemed to... exactly what

37:21

everyone wanted. They blew plates and cups around

37:24

so quickly the mess hall looked like a

37:26

delicious hurricane. If you got up too fast

37:28

you were likely to get beaned by beans

37:30

or potted by a potted by a pot

37:32

roast. And that's just a fun way because

37:34

bean like bean like a pot roast. And

37:36

that's just a fun way because bean by

37:39

beans like that does make sense like bean

37:41

is another thing for like a baseball or

37:43

something like that. But I don't hitting you

37:45

in the face. Now, Hazel orders shrimp gumbo,

37:47

which is correct. Percy has a cheeseburger and

37:49

a bright blue soda, and he says, this

37:52

makes me happy, but I don't know why.

37:54

I love it. I love it. Naredo hazel

37:56

then says, quote, just for a moment, one

37:58

of the oar I became visible, an elfin

38:00

girl in a white silk dress. She giggled

38:02

as she topped off Percy's glass, then disappeared

38:05

in a gust. And I found that very

38:07

interesting. I don't know if this person is

38:09

gonna come back. I don't know if the

38:11

oar I just like know what's going on,

38:13

but when this happened, I was like, wait

38:15

a second little thing, but it felt big,

38:18

and I'm just kind of like mentally earmarking

38:20

marking it for the future. Narrator Hazel notes

38:22

that the mess hall feels a little louder

38:24

tonight, and she gives the detail that they

38:26

eat, quote, Roman style, which is sitting on

38:28

couches around low tables, which sounds fun. There's

38:31

lots of kids moving spaces, going from couch

38:33

to couch, chatting, gossiping, etc. And as is

38:35

custom, the fifth cohort takes their place of

38:37

least honor in the very back of the

38:39

dining hall. And I know this is a

38:41

book, and their triumph will be cool. But

38:43

this continual bad setup for cohort five is

38:46

going to suck. their cabin is in the

38:48

bathroom, they're eating inside of the kitchens, I'm

38:50

imagining their couches have like springs poking up,

38:52

they're actually futons, like I'm sure everything is

38:54

terrible. Maybe you need to set them up

38:56

for success better. It's a good point. The

38:59

one thing I wanted to go back to

39:01

is Percy's meal, obviously the blue beverage We

39:03

all know what that comes from. I'd like

39:05

to think in my head cannon cheeseburger is

39:07

like a callback to a god buys us

39:09

cheeseburgers. Oh, totally. It's a huge turning point

39:12

for him as a character Yeah, that's a

39:14

huge turning point for him as a character

39:16

Yeah, everything you know within the lightning thief

39:18

those two chapters in particular are huge for

39:20

his arc. Like Antium is the first Checkpoint

39:22

on that quest. It's his first time being

39:25

faced with monsters on an actual quest right

39:27

and then with confronting areas I believe that's

39:29

his first time Confronting a god if they

39:31

don't count Esther D. Yeah, like outside of

39:33

camp. Yeah in my head. I'm like okay

39:35

cheeseburgers Percy associates with like the beginning it

39:38

honestly this is the beginning of his time

39:40

at Camp Jupiter. It's a way of like

39:42

can Continuing to echo

39:44

this idea of of newcomers

39:46

again this time time that

39:48

hero within you you,

39:51

just not remembering how to

39:53

access it and just

39:55

it coming out at

39:57

at -flight moments Yeah, and

39:59

it's also I guess

40:01

like if you are

40:03

thinking of his ideal

40:06

meal I ideal meal

40:08

is a cheeseburger without ideal

40:10

meal, his ideal but not

40:12

like steaks You know

40:14

what I mean steaks. cheeseburger

40:16

that he can just

40:19

eat and then that's

40:21

the end of the

40:23

story know his ideal

40:25

situation that he can just eat and

40:27

the end of the of That's his

40:29

ideal situation. in particular, is is the the least

40:32

cool and most empty, but it's got

40:34

more people here today. are the her and

40:36

Frank, who are the normal people at

40:38

this table, but now we've got the

40:40

additions of Nico, Percy, and then and then Dakota,

40:42

but mostly out of obligation. And

40:44

at this point, I'm thinking, okay, okay, now we

40:46

have, cause you were saying this earlier, earlier, like,

40:48

we to root for them. This is something

40:50

that we've seen even with that like not

40:52

deemed as cool, but it was like

40:54

never really believable. deemed as cool. when I was

40:57

reading the first five books and they're like,

40:59

oh, people at the camp didn't like

41:01

Percy. I'm like, when I saved the world multiple

41:03

times. I think people like Percy. the This

41:05

genuinely feels like classic high school stakes

41:07

of like Frank and Hazel are losers. like

41:09

they are true in the eyes of the

41:11

other campers. They are actually the true - in

41:14

ew, don't sit near sit near us. You can't

41:16

sit with us So I think it's more think

41:18

it's more believable, and I think for

41:20

them to overcome the burden of not

41:22

being to then saving the day will saving the day

41:24

will be awesome. So I think that

41:26

this growth arc is going to be

41:28

even better than we saw with Percy,

41:30

who was like, not cool at Camp Half I can't

41:32

have it's also and it's also funny too,

41:34

like you were saying saying about. No one even

41:36

knows who this Percy guy is. Like,

41:38

you don't know you that this guy

41:40

has, that this done over the past done over

41:42

years and all that. five with Nick. and

41:44

two characters sitting at this table, which

41:46

is like sitting at table table, which is

41:48

that kind of stuff is hilarious

41:50

because it's like if you just knew

41:53

if you just knew and that kind read

41:55

the first is hilarious because it's like if you just

41:57

on his couch mixing sugar into his

41:59

drink Yeah. He was a beefy guy

42:01

with curly black hair and eyes that

42:03

didn't quite line up street. So Hazel

42:05

felt like the world was leaning wherever

42:07

she looked at him. It wasn't a

42:10

good sign that he was drinking so

42:12

much so early in the night. And

42:14

I just wrote, I mean, it's not

42:16

booze, right? And then we'll get into

42:18

it. Nareda Hazel then says, so. And

42:20

then Dakota Burps, waving his. Percy quickly

42:22

thanks him, but then immediately turns back

42:24

to Nico and asks, hey, can we

42:27

get back to talking about how I

42:29

definitely know who you are? And Nico

42:31

replies, sure, but too quickly, and then

42:33

immediately adds, I spend most of my

42:35

time in the underworld, so that's probably

42:37

the only place you could have run

42:39

into me, so probably not, you don't

42:42

know who I am. Dakota tells Percy

42:44

that Nico's title is, quote, ambassador from

42:46

Pluto, but then says that Reina just

42:48

doesn't really know what to do with

42:50

him what to do with him whenever

42:52

he visits. Whenever he visits. And he

42:54

says that Reina's face when Nico arrived

42:56

and told her to take Hazel in

42:59

was a site to behold. And I'm

43:01

wondering how long ago did Nico learn

43:03

about the prophecy? Because it seems like

43:05

he's been trying to facilitate this, obviously,

43:07

with Percy, but I wonder if his

43:09

facilitation goes all the way back to

43:11

Hazel. And it's kind of like a

43:14

heret thing where he knows that someone's

43:16

got to do something. Like he thinks

43:18

Hazel's going to be one of the

43:20

seven. So at this point I'm wondering

43:22

like, like, like, Negro says that Dakota

43:24

was helpful back then by standing up

43:26

for Hazel. And Dakota plays it off

43:28

all humbly, saying that Hazel looked like

43:31

a good kid, and he was proven

43:33

right last month, quote, when she saved

43:35

me from a, you know, and I

43:37

wrote, no, Dakota, I do not know,

43:39

please tell us. Frank, takes a look

43:41

up from his fish and chips. Frank,

43:43

what are we doing? Frank. Frank, fish

43:46

and chips in California. Frank, come on,

43:48

man. You're specifically dissing California fish and

43:50

chips. No, I'm also dissing fish and

43:52

chips. Like, I just, and I guess

43:54

maybe in Boston is probably better. And

43:56

I really shouldn't, my thing with fish

43:58

and chips is I just think it's

44:00

so funny that it's like Britain's national

44:03

dish. I know their actual national dish

44:05

is chicken, chicken, masala, which is cultural

44:07

appropriation, but. They're like unofficial whatever, like

44:09

most popular ones, fish and chips. I'm

44:11

like, that's just chicken tenders with fish.

44:13

Like, are you a child? The nation

44:15

of England, come on. So, no, I'm

44:18

sure fish and chips here are like

44:20

actually good. Cape Cod especially. Okay, good

44:22

to know. I did have a crab

44:24

roll from James Hookinco. Okay, I don't

44:26

know it was good. It was expensive,

44:28

but I had a crab roll and

44:30

it was great anyway. Fish and chips,

44:32

I'm sure it's fine. Just not necessarily

44:35

my cup of tea. Chapins, Bayside, and

44:37

Dennis, Massachusetts. If that rings about anyone.

44:39

If not, make a pilgrimage, go, go,

44:41

go, go. So Frank looks up from

44:43

his fish and chips and says that

44:45

Percy should have seen Hazel's stripe-earning moment.

44:47

He says that unicorns were stampeding. Hazel

44:49

jumps in to say it was nothing.

44:52

Frank pushes back, citing that Dakota would

44:54

have been trampled, citing that Dakota would

44:56

have been trampled, if not for her

44:58

stepping in and chewing them away. And

45:00

I know that this probably took place

45:02

at the camp, but the only thing

45:04

I could envision in my brain was

45:07

the scene from the scene from the

45:09

scene from the Lion King, except. Hazel

45:11

doesn't love when the story comes up.

45:13

And Frank tries to make her sound

45:15

like a hero because she was mostly

45:17

trying to protect the unicorns, not Dakota.

45:19

And the reason she was able to

45:21

help out here is their horns are

45:24

made of precious metal, silver and gold,

45:26

and she was able to focus and

45:28

steer them back into their stables. And

45:30

yes, it allowed her to become a

45:32

full legion member, but it also began

45:34

the camp questioning her powers, which she

45:36

didn't like when this happened back in

45:39

Orleans. She doesn't like this happening now.

45:41

So not necessarily. her crowning achievement that

45:43

people would think it would be. I

45:45

do love when this stuff happens to

45:47

like the narrative technique of taking a

45:49

character's powers and making it practical. Like

45:51

the practical explanation of like well the

45:53

horns are made out of jewels that

45:56

is why she can manipulate them too.

45:58

And it's also a great like that's

46:00

a fighter-flight moment that's her showing like

46:02

a taste of her full strength because

46:04

we saw how concentration she needed to

46:06

focus earlier in chapter 7 just to

46:08

get that one piece of gold out

46:11

of the ground and you can only

46:13

imagine like a herd of unicorns what

46:15

that takes but honestly like in those

46:17

moments of fighter flight sometimes it feels

46:19

like they're described as not necessarily breaking

46:21

a sweat and that is what makes

46:23

camp Jupiter be like who is this

46:25

person? Yeah, yeah. And that was really

46:28

cool. Yeah, it's cool. And I think

46:30

this is a great note to end

46:32

the first act on because we're about

46:34

to get into, like, Nico, Hazel, Bianca,

46:36

backstory. So let's take a quick break

46:38

for intermission. First, let's all say goodbye

46:40

to the podcast people. Goodbye, podcast people.

46:44

Hello and welcome to The Son of Fortune, Houston

46:46

edition specifically, Kelly's Younger Brothers Childhood Bedroom edition. We're

46:48

at Kelly's parents place for the holidays, and I

46:51

found the one room that doesn't have a baby

46:53

sleeping in it, and I'm going to record the

46:55

mid-roll break here for this episode right before the

46:57

holiday season. So got some updates and stuff first.

46:59

Speaking of the holidays, if you were looking for

47:02

a last minute, oh my goodness, I need a

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newest Olympian, you've got Patreon, where you can gift

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camera on a tripod. and then putting the video

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up from that live show days in advance of

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when the actual episode comes out so you can

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get a preview, you can see the show, there's

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do that on the Tino Patreon, you also can

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go to the Tino merch store, the Nio, the

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newsalimand.com session, because some of our live shows coming

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if you need some last-minute holiday gifts, we've got

47:59

you covered now about this episode specifically There's a

48:01

couple of things to note first there was one

48:03

point in the episode where I say juicy mortal

48:05

mortal mortal And I definitely meant juicy morsel. Also,

48:07

there's a point in this episode where I postulate

48:10

whether or not Frank's godly parent could be Demeter

48:12

completely disregarding that a couple sentences later he mentions

48:14

that he doesn't know who his dad is. So

48:16

it makes it clear that his godly parent would

48:18

be his dad completely. didn't recognize this in the

48:21

moment. I do think I realize this in a

48:23

future episode. It could even be the next one

48:25

at the Boston Late Show, it might be the

48:27

one after, but there definitely is a moment in

48:29

time when I realize and make fun of myself

48:32

for not realizing earlier. That is godly apparent. can't

48:34

be a gowness. Now I mention the patron, I

48:36

want to give a shout out to the folks

48:38

who have joined most recently, and yes, this accounts

48:40

for people who joined, and I should have announced

48:43

your names in the middle or break of last

48:45

week's episode, but mentioned the whole thing with my

48:47

sister and the unplanned ER visit. She's doing well.

48:49

The Stitches came through beautifully, so all is good.

48:51

Thank you, Tevrin, who said kind words about that.

48:53

But let's give a shout to the folks who

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joined most recently, so shout to our new Scoutier

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patrons, Kinsey Hamlin, Rye Hoskins, and Cecilia, and shout

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to our newest Emigottier patrons, Shea Talieson, Willie Shakes,

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upgraded to Spencerer to the SuperGottier, who upgraded to

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the SuperGottier, who upgraded to the SuperGottier, the SuperGottier,

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on the SuperGottier, on the SuperGottier, on the Super

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God Tier. Reminder, if you have upgraded your tier

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get those notifications from patron anymore. So just send

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me a DM letting you know and I will

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announce your upgrade in this section. Final programming note,

49:24

I've mentioned this a couple of times, but there's

49:26

not going to be a standard episode of the

49:29

new stillimpian next. Monday, December is five Monday month,

49:31

holiday season all that kind

49:33

of stuff. stuff. So probably

49:35

not going to be

49:37

posting anything, anything. something about

49:40

the donation that we do

49:42

when we take a

49:44

week off, but if I

49:46

don't post something there,

49:48

I'll do the donation in

49:51

the episode after. in the

49:53

I just want to thank

49:55

everyone for listening this

49:57

year. This year was a

49:59

very fun year a the

50:01

show. year I posted something

50:04

on Instagram something on rap,

50:06

but there was a lot

50:08

of new people finding

50:10

the show. I think with

50:12

the TV show happening the

50:15

TV helped, and a lot

50:17

of people have listened

50:19

to to. episodes at least once,

50:21

people are going back and

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listening to old episodes, to

50:26

old episodes been coming to

50:28

live shows coming to live shows and supporting

50:30

talking on social media the following us and all that

50:32

kind of stuff. on just been a really fun

50:34

year us and the show of stuff. It's so happy with the

50:36

community that we have. It makes doing this so

50:38

much fun. I love being able to do this

50:40

to my job. as I my my it is a privilege

50:42

and an honor and I'm committed to doing this

50:44

for years to come want I want to thank all

50:46

of you for another great year of it. So

50:48

I really I really do appreciate it. Now, unless you're

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listening on patron you get access to ad -free episodes,

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you're going to hear words from a few sponsors

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hear words for me to be full -time and make Some

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51:17

right, I hope I hope everyone

51:19

had a good intermission. I missed

51:21

you all so dearly Oh, that's Oh,

51:23

that's good. her like, oh, we're actually actually

51:25

having a better time When you learn

51:27

you on on stage. Let's keep

51:29

talking about this book gonna we're

51:31

gonna learn about Niko and

51:33

everything. everything. Ooh, backstory, So fun. So, asks

51:36

if they grew up together says no,

51:38

says only found out he only found

51:40

out that they were siblings hazels

51:42

from New Orleans, from New Orleans, which

51:44

is a convenient that Niko uses to

51:46

uses to make it sound like

51:48

he came across her in

51:50

New Orleans and brought her to

51:52

camp. tries to fit in as a tries to

51:54

fit in as a modern kid but

51:56

freaks out whenever she sees modern technology.

51:58

Thankfully, there's almost none at Camp because of demigods

52:00

and everything, but every now and then when

52:02

she sees stuff, it boggles her mind. Niko

52:04

says that there aren't many children of Hades,

52:07

and Percy has the feeling that Niko has

52:09

other sisters. And Niko says just one, but

52:11

she passed. And then I had written in

52:13

my notes, oh, okay, I was wondering why

52:16

Hazel and Niko took the sibling things so

52:18

seriously, because I was thinking like, like, other

52:20

half siblings when they don't have the same

52:22

mortal parent, like they don't really care. a

52:25

bigger deal. So now that makes more sense

52:27

to me. Yeah, and Nika's only ever known

52:29

his sister to be one person, that being

52:31

Bianca. And they spent like their lives together.

52:34

They spent decades in the Lotus potato together.

52:36

Of course, it hits a little harder. And

52:38

it's also funny too, when Rick is listing

52:40

out all the different technology that takes Hazel

52:43

by surprise, it's always funny to like remember

52:45

when these books were written, because I can't

52:47

believe this is like a dated. Christmas, like,

52:49

geez, 15 years ago? like that was like

52:52

the greatest day of my life and now

52:54

it's like oh yeah it's just on your

52:56

phone yeah it's fun the things like even

52:58

in the last book when it was the

53:00

assistant had is a pDA like a palm

53:03

pilot it's like oh my gosh wow so

53:05

you know Tristan uses a blackberry like there's

53:07

things it's interesting to see like what technology

53:09

sticks and what stuff becomes obsolete within a

53:12

couple of years now about Bianca Niko says

53:14

that he saw her spirit a few times

53:16

in Elysium but last time he went down

53:18

there she chose to reborn into a new

53:21

life and now he'll never see her again

53:23

and I'm thinking do I need a Bianca

53:25

refresher this is new information right like no

53:27

spoilers like is this something that we learned

53:30

in the first five books this feels different

53:32

this definitely at least rereading it felt like

53:34

a reveal to me that's what I was

53:36

thinking like this doesn't and I kind of

53:39

looked back just like a brief thing of

53:41

like what goes on with Biana but I

53:43

think she just like goes up and she

53:45

keeps coming when he goes trying to summon

53:48

her and stuff but this sounded very new

53:50

and different and I was very intrigued to

53:52

see if it was like actually a peek

53:54

at stuff to come. And it's honestly it's

53:56

a big deal too because the idea of

53:59

like that's permanent you have to move on.

54:01

One of my favorite movies ever is this

54:03

film called Why Is It Escaping Me Now

54:05

as I'm talking about it. Donald Gleason. about

54:08

time. I was gonna get some time just

54:10

from that. Yes, anyone seen about time. It's

54:12

just it's a brilliantly made movie and I

54:14

won't spoil it but there's a narrative technique

54:17

in there that allows you to still communicate

54:19

with a loved one even after they have

54:21

passed, but there's also a moments where that

54:23

needs to come to a permanent end. There's

54:26

a moment in the movie where it breaks

54:28

my heart because it's like you really have

54:30

to let go of something that you were

54:32

forced to let go of prior. And Niko

54:35

and Bianca, he was forced to let go

54:37

of her years prior. But now with this

54:39

added layer of like, no, she's been reborn

54:41

and he has to be happy for her

54:44

so she can have this new life, but

54:46

also it means he has to let that

54:48

full piece of him go. I hope it's

54:50

not new information because that like breaks my

54:52

heart. I wish we got to like see

54:55

Nico deal with that level of grief because

54:57

grief is real. It's hard to process and

54:59

I don't want to just be glossed over

55:01

in one line. Yeah, I'm hoping that this

55:04

is something that might get revisited if it

55:06

is in fact a new thing and not

55:08

just me like get revisited if it is

55:10

in fact a new thing and not just

55:13

me like forgetting what's going on in the

55:15

first five books. Don the fawn interrupts by

55:17

yelling, Hazel, before any sort of answer can

55:19

be given. Hazel is happy to see him

55:22

for once because now she's not going to

55:24

have to talk about whatever these rumors are

55:26

supposed to be. And she's still happy to

55:28

see me even if he's in a part

55:31

of the camp where he is not supposed

55:33

to be. When he finally gets to their

55:35

table after cheesing it up the whole way

55:37

through, he asks Percy if he's going to

55:40

eat that. And Percy thought that Fawns were

55:42

vegetarians, so he's confused, but Don clarifies that

55:44

he means his plate. He then snips Percy's

55:46

hair and asks what... that smell is, Hazel

55:48

tells him not to be rude. And he

55:51

says, no man, I just, and then Vitalius

55:53

pops into existence at the table, and this

55:55

is Bedlam. There's no. reason why it is

55:57

so clear, no wonder cohort five are the

56:00

losers. Like, imagine this happening at the lunch

56:02

table, like all these people that are not

56:04

necessarily late to camp, just keep popping up

56:06

and up and up, like, yeah, of course

56:09

they're gonna be the dewebs at the camp.

56:11

So, Vitalius scolds Dakota for allowing a thawn

56:13

at the table, and Dakota is more focused

56:15

on having dinner than keeping out outsiders from

56:18

dinner. And what Dawn was smelling was that

56:20

Percy has an empathy link. with a fawn.

56:22

Obviously, this is gonna be a reference to

56:24

his empathy link with Grover, fawn just being

56:27

the Roman version of Sader. So it's very

56:29

interesting, I had kind of forgotten that that

56:31

was a thing and I didn't know that

56:33

it had a smell, but for him to

56:36

pick up on it, very interesting for more

56:38

of the sprinklings of Percy's backstory to kind

56:40

of be happening without him recognizing it. Yeah

56:42

and the more we talk to you about

56:45

just these chapters it really like reminds me

56:47

that son of Neptune it's like a love

56:49

letter to the lightning thief because even just

56:51

on the phone like eating a plate reminds

56:53

me of like the first time like Grover

56:56

ate a can like little things like that

56:58

it's just like there's so many just parallels

57:00

and you know that's all great stories they

57:02

rhyme they find a way to hark them

57:05

back to what launched them but I love

57:07

this like added layer of it's a new

57:09

story but hey there's a new story of

57:11

it's going through We also kind of get

57:14

placed in his head at moments because there

57:16

are these like familiar moments from his backstory.

57:18

We were like, oh, if I was someone

57:20

who was like suffering from amnesia right now.

57:23

I would also see like, oh, that makes

57:25

sense. That makes sense. So shout out, Rick,

57:27

he's great. He's cooking. He's cooking. So Percy

57:29

asks what an empathy link is. Don begins

57:32

to explain, but then Nico tries to change

57:34

the subject by suggesting that the group leave

57:36

to give Hazel and Frank time to get

57:38

Percy acclimated. He says that the rest will

57:41

go to the Pride Tour's table instead to

57:43

discuss strategies for the war games and Dakota.

57:45

struggles, strategies for losing? And I don't like

57:47

that Dakota is being so like grumbly and

57:49

down in the dumps and stuff. I feel

57:52

foolish for guessing, knowing no information at all

57:54

that he was part of the seven, but

57:56

I literally knew nothing. Vitalius screams, death boy

57:58

is right, agreeing that they must talk strategy,

58:01

since the legion fights worse than when they

58:03

lost the eagle in Judea. And we'll learn

58:05

a little bit about this in a second.

58:07

Don asks if he can eat the silverware,

58:10

so then Niko just grabs Don and Vitalis

58:12

and forces them away. And this is something

58:14

I was getting to earlier. We're getting at

58:16

different sides of Niko. Niko's now the comedic

58:19

relief character, which is so different for brooding

58:21

emotions, hot topic, eye black. Welcome to the

58:23

black parade. Niko. Now we're getting, Niko is

58:25

the source of jokes. Wildly different situation for

58:28

him. I love it. It's so fun. And

58:30

I think that comes from the fact that

58:32

like he knows the fact that he knows

58:34

the answer. He knows the answer. He knows

58:37

the answer. He's in the place where he

58:39

is guiding the narrative and giving sprinkles of

58:41

like, I can tell you this now, but

58:43

I can't tell you everything and like wanting

58:45

to tell Percy everything, but knowing that in

58:48

order for the whole plot to unravel, he

58:50

needs to keep some information to himself. He's

58:52

kind of forced to evolve his personality a

58:54

little bit, or maybe not evolve, but just

58:57

show a side of him that he never

58:59

really had the chance to before, because he

59:01

was always the outsider, the outcast, the outcast,

59:03

and now he's like. technically the captain in

59:06

this book, but he just can't like wear

59:08

the captain C that you would have on

59:10

your jersey on your SPQR t-shirt. Right. So

59:12

yeah, I think that's cool. Yeah, he's got

59:15

to steer the ship without anyone knowing that

59:17

he's at the helm. So he yells for

59:19

Dakota to join that he's at the helm.

59:21

So he yells for Dakota to join who

59:24

wipes his mouth quote uselessly since it was

59:26

permanently stained. You let him drink wine? And

59:28

Hazel clarifies, no. He's addicted to cool aid.

59:30

Says he drinks three times the daily recommended

59:33

amount, and that paired with his ADHD as

59:35

a bad combo. And then Percy is observing

59:37

Nikosum. and then goes ADHD you don't say

59:39

and I can just see this scene so

59:41

clearly in my mind like it's such a

59:44

classic like looking over the booth kind of

59:46

staring at the person across the room thing

59:48

it's really great writing from Rick and I

59:50

don't really know what it is but Even

59:53

this early on, this chapter in particular, it's

59:55

just I really like this book. I feel

59:57

like I'm already liking it more than The

59:59

Lost Hero. Not to take anything away from

1:00:02

the Lost Hero, I just think it's that

1:00:04

book did so much world building and so

1:00:06

much setup that now this one just gets

1:00:08

to be really fun. And I'm just gets

1:00:11

to be really fun. And I'm really enjoying

1:00:13

it a lot. Yeah, it's an interesting question

1:00:15

about like the Lost Hero we're going to

1:00:17

a familiar place for parts of it. Like

1:00:20

we're at Camp Halflet. we're being led by

1:00:22

three completely new characters. And now we're in

1:00:24

a completely new place and we're led by

1:00:26

three narrators and only one of them is

1:00:29

a familiar character, but it's a character that

1:00:31

we've spent five books with through his soul

1:00:33

perspective the whole time. So it's funny that

1:00:35

it's like going back to a familiar place,

1:00:38

if you're with new people, can feel like

1:00:40

world building all over again. But going to

1:00:42

a new place, as long as you're accompanied

1:00:44

by someone like a Percy who. who has

1:00:46

guided you through this whole world this whole

1:00:49

time, it's like, no, it's not the vast

1:00:51

unknown, like we're in good hands because we're

1:00:53

with Percy. Yeah, what's interesting is the only

1:00:55

things that we don't know are like the

1:00:58

particulars of Camp Jupiter, because even at the

1:01:00

end of the Lost Hero, we know like

1:01:02

the big things that make Camp Jupiter, camp

1:01:04

Jupiter, because even at the end of The

1:01:07

Lost Hero, we know like the big things

1:01:09

we don't know is like flavor text, so

1:01:11

it's like flavor like flavor like. and then

1:01:13

we just keep going. Something else to build

1:01:16

off on what you said too. Dakota being

1:01:18

addicted to like Kool-Aid is hilarious because I

1:01:20

think this book was written in like 2011

1:01:22

or 2012. This is a long time before

1:01:25

like the boom of energy drinks. Yes. If

1:01:27

this was written today, he would be like

1:01:29

pounding like ghost energies. Monster. monster like

1:01:31

when I was growing

1:01:34

up my mom would

1:01:36

be like stay away

1:01:38

from like like was

1:01:40

like was and now It's

1:01:42

just like and now it's just

1:01:45

like I drink I Bull

1:01:47

according to my parents

1:01:49

They were like has

1:01:51

your growth It's bad

1:01:54

for you and I

1:01:56

was like my bones

1:01:58

will break apart if

1:02:00

I drink Red Bull

1:02:03

and I still like

1:02:05

I didn't have Red

1:02:07

Bull and I was like my bones

1:02:09

because I was like

1:02:12

the fear that Joel

1:02:14

and a part if I me

1:02:16

of what Red Bull I

1:02:18

do to my tiny

1:02:21

body have have a

1:02:23

hilarious anecdote off of

1:02:25

that we were learning we were

1:02:27

learning about and and

1:02:30

Roman mythology context of like the of and

1:02:32

history and all that kind of stuff. We

1:02:34

did a mock and all that kind of my sixth grade

1:02:36

history class. me and my

1:02:38

team decided, how are we gonna win?

1:02:40

But we'll all have decided how are we going to win

1:02:42

but we'll all we were catered to on

1:02:44

all those commercials. to ESPN commercials. hour energy.

1:02:46

And we were like, is it five

1:02:48

hours of energy? Or is it a

1:02:50

burst of energy that is the equivalent

1:02:52

of five hours, like 30 minutes? that I

1:02:54

drank one. And then at lunch, they

1:02:56

were like, you know that's sensor growth,

1:02:58

right? And I was like. never gonna grow, I'm

1:03:00

five I I can't do this right

1:03:02

now. clearly I did I did continue

1:03:04

growing was, was fortunately I didn't stop

1:03:06

my growth growth energy. But yeah,

1:03:08

if I was in in situation, maybe

1:03:11

I would stopped growing from just five hour

1:03:13

energies. Maybe if you never drank one,

1:03:15

you'd be in the NBA right now.

1:03:17

Maybe you'd be like be in the if you

1:03:19

didn't have that one you'd be like energy.

1:03:21

Now I'm gonna think about that for

1:03:23

the rest of the show. hour energy. Now I'm going

1:03:25

to says that most the either have ADHD

1:03:27

or dyslexia. Then Percy asks, have you

1:03:29

a - or dyslexia Then says asks do you

1:03:31

in my day They just called kids

1:03:33

like us lazy and Percy goes back my

1:03:36

day they day. I love him I love

1:03:38

him. He's so fun in it's true

1:03:40

to his character like in the first

1:03:42

five books He always would ask ask Dura

1:03:44

questions He never let anything drop for

1:03:46

him to continue to do to when people

1:03:48

either the risk of the risk of him

1:03:50

learning about himself or revealing their secrets

1:03:53

always there to be like wait, huh? that

1:03:55

I didn't didn't shy away from Percy's

1:03:57

character to make it easier to hide

1:03:59

the secrets secrets. He true to form, always asks

1:04:01

at any sort of slip up, and it's

1:04:03

really fun. Thankfully, though, for Hazel, Frank buts

1:04:05

in to say that he wishes he had

1:04:07

ADHD or dyslexia, because all he has is

1:04:10

lactose intolerance. Percy smirks, and then Hazel is

1:04:12

the narrator, notes that she thinks that Frank

1:04:14

is cute when he pouts. And we've had

1:04:16

Hazel saying that she doesn't like him that

1:04:18

way. Okay, Hazel, Hazel, sure. Frank says that

1:04:20

the problem is he loves ice cream. Oh

1:04:22

Frank, my sweet summer child! That causes Percy

1:04:24

to laugh and Hazel to join him. And

1:04:27

Percy, always looking to help us, the reader

1:04:29

out, asks, okay, so why is it so

1:04:31

bad to be in cohort five? And the

1:04:33

reason he's asking, so why is it so

1:04:35

bad to be in cohort five? And the

1:04:37

reason he's asking this is you two seem

1:04:39

great, I don't get it. If someone said

1:04:41

they were in horse riding, I'd be like

1:04:44

meat. Bersey asks if that's why she uses

1:04:46

a cavalry sword, and she confirms and qualifies

1:04:48

it as wishful thinking, because there's only one

1:04:50

Pegasus a camp, Skippy, and the unicorns are

1:04:52

only for medicinal purposes because the shavings from

1:04:54

their horns are used in antidotes. Also, most

1:04:56

Roman fighting is done on foot, so cavalry

1:04:59

fighting is looked down upon. But my thought

1:05:01

is, if you're on a horse, are you

1:05:03

higher up? So wouldn't your fighting be looked

1:05:05

up upon? But... They look down upon it

1:05:07

in the metaphorical sense. And that is the

1:05:09

context of why she's not cool. So I

1:05:11

get it, but also, I don't know, fighting

1:05:13

on a horse sounds way cooler than fighting

1:05:16

on your feet like a peasant. Percy, ever

1:05:18

the lad, goes their loss, which I love.

1:05:20

And then he goes, what about you, Frank?

1:05:22

And it's a fun dichotomy in that sentence

1:05:24

to basically be like, Hazel, you're incredible. And

1:05:26

these people are fools and they're missing out.

1:05:28

Hey, Frank, why does everyone hate you? It's

1:05:30

a great one too punch. People apparently dislike

1:05:33

Frank because if his admiration for archery, again,

1:05:35

seems cool. But unless you're a child of

1:05:37

Apollo, and I'm guessing that is the. as

1:05:39

opposed to like. a Roman name for Apollo?

1:05:41

Because we already had that introduced with Apollo

1:05:43

in the third book, where there was the

1:05:45

helios and, is it, Salim for the moon?

1:05:48

And he was like, our first inkling into

1:05:50

that the Roman side of the equation exists.

1:05:52

So I guess Apollo is Apollo with both

1:05:54

camps? That's a really good question. I've never

1:05:56

like dug too deep into why the Roman

1:05:58

gods were named the Roman gods. I've always

1:06:00

just been like, oh, the planets. or it

1:06:02

might come up later in the books. But

1:06:05

the Romans don't like the bow and arrow

1:06:07

fighting either. Frank hopes that his dad is

1:06:09

Apollo, but he's not great with poetry, and

1:06:11

he doesn't want to be related to Octavian.

1:06:13

And I am very interested. We haven't really

1:06:15

had a narrator or main character be a

1:06:17

child of Apollo. Like we've had Will Salas

1:06:19

get like briefly mentioned and did like one

1:06:22

thing in book five. And I guess Michael

1:06:24

Eub, but like no one's been like a

1:06:26

true important character we care about. for if

1:06:28

Rick wanted to go in a different direction

1:06:30

because now we've clearly established hazel, child of

1:06:32

Hades as a narrator, we could have a

1:06:34

different God that we have a representation from

1:06:36

be a narrator. So we'll see. I guess

1:06:39

my guess would just be that he would

1:06:41

be a child of Demeter not because of

1:06:43

any sort of clue, but just because of

1:06:45

the fact that we haven't really met anyone

1:06:47

except for Katie Gardner and she's shown up

1:06:49

like twice and as maybe said. Hi. Couldn't

1:06:51

tell you anything about Katie Gardner except that

1:06:54

her last name is gardening. Ha ha ha.

1:06:56

Percy says that he can't blame Frank for

1:06:58

not wanting to be related to Octavian before

1:07:00

complimenting his bow ability. We're calling the way

1:07:02

that he wrecked the Gorgens. Forget what other

1:07:04

people think. I love Percy. This is great,

1:07:06

such a good vibe, such a great spirit.

1:07:08

I love it. Frank blushes and says that

1:07:11

he wishes he could, but the camp keeps

1:07:13

trying to pressure him to pressure him into

1:07:15

being a sword fightering a sword fighter since

1:07:17

he so burly and beefy and beefy and

1:07:19

beefy. He wishes his dad would just claim

1:07:21

him, and Hazel feels sympathy and gets the

1:07:23

sense that Percy does too for going unclaimed.

1:07:25

Hazel goes back to Percy's original question, though.

1:07:28

The disdain for cohort five. She says that

1:07:30

it precedes them. She directs Percy to the

1:07:32

empty pole, and Percy guesses, uh, yeah, the

1:07:34

eagle used to be there, right? And Hazel

1:07:36

is shocked that Percy knows this, but Percy

1:07:38

explains that he picked up on Vitalius, incredibly

1:07:40

heavy-handedly, making the point that their first loss

1:07:43

of the eagle sounded like this huge Jason

1:07:45

disgrace. Percy's guess is that the eagle was

1:07:47

lost a second time and cohort five is

1:07:49

to blame. Nareda Hazel then says, quote, Hazel

1:07:51

made a mental note not to underestimate Percy

1:07:53

again when he'd first arrived. She'd thought he

1:07:55

was a little goofy from the questions he

1:07:57

asked about the feast of tuna and all,

1:08:00

but he clearly was smarter than he let

1:08:02

on. And I don't think you should let

1:08:04

silly questions detracts, or I ask silly questions

1:08:06

all the time. And I would like to

1:08:08

think of myself as intelligent, even though many

1:08:10

people who listen to my podcast probably think

1:08:12

I'm an idiot because I'm honest and open

1:08:14

with myself, but I probably beat all of

1:08:17

you. you on the SATs, so shut up!

1:08:19

I'm a bigger nerd! Hazel informs that he

1:08:21

nailed it. His guess is 100% correct. So

1:08:23

naturally, Percy then asks, okay, so what's the

1:08:25

eagle and why is it important? Thank the

1:08:27

gods for Percy Jackson facilitating us as the

1:08:29

reader to understand what is happening. Frank then

1:08:32

does a look around to make sure that

1:08:34

no one is listening in and again I

1:08:36

can see this so clearly like he's sitting

1:08:38

in the couch and he goes like... Okay,

1:08:40

so here's the thing because they're not supposed

1:08:42

to talk about it because apparently it's bad

1:08:44

luck Which feels weird like I don't understand

1:08:46

like the sweeping of things under the rug

1:08:49

being bad luck that feels incredibly Unhelpful it

1:08:51

reminds me of people not wanting to say

1:08:53

the truth about Selena like don't you want

1:08:55

to learn from your past mistakes? I don't

1:08:57

get it. If we don't do that, Mike,

1:08:59

we don't have a story. That's true, yeah.

1:09:01

We need a little deo sex machina in

1:09:03

this. And I also love to, like, this

1:09:06

is an exposition dump is what we're in

1:09:08

the middle of, but it feels natural. Like,

1:09:10

Percy's been kept in the dark for so

1:09:12

long, he's now in a. where he can

1:09:14

get information and it feels like he's not

1:09:16

like breaking the rules and even though they're

1:09:18

bending the rules by explaining it like I

1:09:21

said it all feels natural and with the

1:09:23

flow the eagle thing obviously is huge because

1:09:25

right from here like you said about the

1:09:27

cover this is when once this is established

1:09:29

it's like you said about the cover this

1:09:31

is when once this is established it's like

1:09:33

oh now we really know nothing right it's

1:09:35

the classic moment like when you're watching a

1:09:38

movie or TV show when you've seen your

1:09:40

last bit of trailer footage about exposition dumps.

1:09:42

I think that it's done well in the

1:09:44

book, and it's also done well in the

1:09:46

TV show. There were some people complaining about

1:09:48

the show being a little exposition dumpy in

1:09:50

the episode when Percy is getting shown around

1:09:52

by Luke and Chris Rodriguez. But I think

1:09:55

that that's just natural for this sort of

1:09:57

setting. When you're the new kid to a

1:09:59

school or a camp, you ask someone else

1:10:01

who's been there longer a bunch of questions.

1:10:03

So like, yes, it's exposition dump, but it's

1:10:05

one that makes complete and total and total

1:10:07

sense. It's totally fine for the book to

1:10:09

do this, especially because we as the reader,

1:10:12

like, we want to know what's going on.

1:10:14

So when people are making all those complaints

1:10:16

about the TV show, I was like, do

1:10:18

you not want to get caught up to

1:10:20

speed? I don't get it. I think that

1:10:22

was just a complaint by people already knowing

1:10:24

what's happening because they've read the books before,

1:10:27

being like, we don't have to know this,

1:10:29

anyone watching this, it's necessity. So I think

1:10:31

this totally fits in like what the fiction

1:10:33

of the fiction of the story. The legion

1:10:35

had one instilled with power. Theirs was from

1:10:37

Jupiter, and the belief was that it had

1:10:39

lightning powers because Julius Caesar nicknamed their legion,

1:10:41

fulminate, aka armed with lightning, because of it.

1:10:44

Percy says that he doesn't like lightning, love

1:10:46

that his anti-zous bias is still intact. Hazel

1:10:48

says it didn't make them invincible or anything,

1:10:50

and they lost it the first time way

1:10:52

back during the Jewish rebellion. Percy says he

1:10:54

feels like he's seen a movie about that

1:10:56

before, and Hazel says it's possible because there's

1:10:58

all sorts of books and films about legions

1:11:01

losing their eagles. It's happened a few times,

1:11:03

and eagles were so important that archaeologists never

1:11:05

recovered a single one from ancient Rome. And

1:11:07

I'm thinking, why is that? Is it because

1:11:09

people always stole them? But we'll get into

1:11:11

it in a sec. But then I was

1:11:13

wondering, are we going to get an Indiana

1:11:16

Jones style Percy Jackson book? It's basically the

1:11:18

quest for a lost artifact. Like this could

1:11:20

be really cool. Then Naredo Hazel says, quote,

1:11:22

each legion guarded theirs to the last man

1:11:24

because it was charged with power from the

1:11:26

gods. They'd rather hide it or melt it

1:11:28

or melt it down than surrender it to

1:11:30

an enemy. So that makes sense as to

1:11:33

why none have been found. Oh, I just

1:11:35

thought of something. Would Hazel maybe, like, accidentally

1:11:37

pull the eagle from the ground by being

1:11:39

near it because of the gold bar thing?

1:11:41

I wonder if that'll count. No one say

1:11:43

anything. No one make any noises. I'm looking

1:11:45

at the ground. I don't see anybody's face.

1:11:47

Hazel says, they got lucky the ground. I

1:11:50

don't see anybody's face. Hazel says, they got

1:11:52

lucky the first. They got lucky the first.

1:11:54

They got lucky the first time, but not

1:11:56

the first anybody's face. Hazel says they got

1:11:58

lucky the first time. They got lucky the

1:12:00

first time, but not. They got lucky the

1:12:02

first time, but not the first time, but

1:12:05

not the first time, but not the first

1:12:07

time, but not, but not, but not, but

1:12:09

not, but not, but, but, but, but, but,

1:12:11

but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but,

1:12:13

but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but,

1:12:15

but, but, but, but, but, but there was

1:12:17

a huge expedition to Alaska in the 80s

1:12:19

to try and find it. Hazel says their

1:12:22

senior prior tour at the time, Michael Varus,

1:12:24

giving a bad name to Michael's everywhere, tried

1:12:26

to determine the prophecy about the seven and

1:12:28

the doors of death, thinking that it would

1:12:30

bring glory to the legion if he could

1:12:32

figure it out and make it come true.

1:12:34

So we talked with the augur, and the

1:12:36

augur said that the answer was in Alaska,

1:12:39

but warned him that the prophecy is not

1:12:41

for you, but he went anyway, which seems

1:12:43

like a bad idea. He went anyway, and

1:12:45

almost the entire fifth cohort was lost. Majority

1:12:47

of the Legion's gold weapons went missing as

1:12:49

well as the eagle, and those that did

1:12:51

survive, did not have their wits about them,

1:12:54

and refused to discuss what attacked them. And

1:12:56

I love that there is intrigue, and I

1:12:58

also think maybe Kyron got to them. We

1:13:00

know he can heal people and stuff, so

1:13:02

maybe when he was healing them, he was

1:13:04

like, you don't want to ever talk about

1:13:06

this to anyone ever. It's too scary, right.

1:13:08

be what we're going to see happen over

1:13:11

the course of this book, a fun little

1:13:13

thing to have happened. Yeah, and I like

1:13:15

the idea too of like pushing against a

1:13:17

quest and the consequence. once a second come

1:13:19

from it. We've talked a lot about the

1:13:21

echoes of the lightning thief in this book.

1:13:23

That fact reminds me of Sea of Monsters,

1:13:25

where the quest is for Clarice, but still

1:13:28

we're gonna have Percy go along on the

1:13:30

mission and try to figure things out for

1:13:32

himself. And obviously, the quest is successful. But

1:13:34

I wonder how different it would be if

1:13:36

Percy forced himself to be like. the actual

1:13:38

person who got the quest from the Oracle.

1:13:40

And obviously this is a little different because

1:13:42

we're on Camp Jupiter's side, but I like

1:13:45

this idea of like quests can fail when

1:13:47

you push against prophecy. I think that's a

1:13:49

very like new interesting layer in the lore.

1:13:51

Yeah, I think it's something that's kind of

1:13:53

been hinted at with Annabeth She had mentioned

1:13:55

in points the harder you try and change

1:13:57

of prophecy. You know, the worst things get.

1:14:00

So now to have like a true example

1:14:02

of like here is something that happened. sorts

1:14:04

of stuff to have like an actual tried

1:14:06

and true example of it says to us

1:14:08

as the reader okay. People weren't kidding. So

1:14:10

then Nareda Hazle lets us know that she

1:14:12

knows who attacked them, which is very interesting.

1:14:14

Nareda Hazle continues to have lots of intrigue.

1:14:17

I'm wondering, obviously she went up there with

1:14:19

her mom. Is it someone that they met

1:14:21

when they were there? Is it someone that

1:14:23

attacked her mom? Is it her mom? Like,

1:14:25

did Gia convert her mom over to being

1:14:27

evil? Which, I don't know. Very intriguing, but

1:14:29

the fact that she knows makes me just,

1:14:31

it's a frustrating thing because the chapter ends

1:14:34

not. after this and then you're realizing okay

1:14:36

I got to wait for two more narrators

1:14:38

but the way that this book has gone

1:14:40

it's not just two chapters or everyone it's

1:14:42

four chapters so it's eight more chapters before

1:14:44

hazel might tell us who this monster is

1:14:46

like they might already been Alaska by that

1:14:49

time so by that time I'm like they

1:14:51

might already been Alaska by that time so

1:14:53

by that time I'm like this monster I

1:14:55

was like they might already been Alaska by

1:14:57

that time by that time by that's who

1:14:59

this monster I was like they might have

1:15:01

something like this really like this really like

1:15:03

Ha! Or I guess, what would it know?

1:15:06

It would only be A chapter, so I

1:15:08

guess it'd be four weeks. Okay, just

1:15:10

a month, just a

1:15:12

month. a not a

1:15:14

big deal. not deal. has

1:15:16

been getting weaker and

1:15:18

weaker has the eagle was

1:15:20

lost. weaker are more

1:15:23

dangerous. was attack the borders

1:15:25

more often. Morale is

1:15:27

lower. The last month

1:15:29

or so, things have

1:15:31

been getting much worse,

1:15:33

much faster. the very

1:15:35

much feels similar to

1:15:38

what we were seeing been

1:15:40

getting much Now I've got

1:15:42

this happening here, similar

1:15:44

much worse, Yeah, and I

1:15:46

like what you said

1:15:48

earlier morale the shifting the

1:15:50

last I never thought

1:15:52

of it like that

1:15:55

when you're reading this

1:15:57

book of, when we

1:15:59

have multiple at play, When

1:16:01

we leave one narrator you have to wait

1:16:03

so you have to

1:16:05

wait so many pages

1:16:07

to get to their

1:16:09

story again. It reminds shows

1:16:12

or movies shows or movies

1:16:14

are the are like than

1:16:16

interesting than the main

1:16:18

narrative. and you're like away,

1:16:20

you're like, to go we

1:16:22

want to go back

1:16:24

there. And honestly, it

1:16:27

links to what they're

1:16:29

doing in season two because news

1:16:31

has has come out

1:16:33

that there's going to

1:16:35

be a lot more Anabeth

1:16:37

centric scenes centric -centric scenes because

1:16:39

the the characters are

1:16:41

so displaced we can't

1:16:44

just have them all

1:16:46

on on screen at once once

1:16:48

of just the nature

1:16:50

of of how sea Monsters

1:16:52

is spread out. out so I'm

1:16:54

spread out intrigued to see

1:16:56

what happens when when

1:16:58

does finally. two does finally we have we

1:17:01

have like of Percy's first person perspective and

1:17:03

not having to rely on to on to find

1:17:05

out what other people are up to other

1:17:07

I wonder if there will also be

1:17:09

that I of like no we really want

1:17:11

to see like pushback like right now and like

1:17:13

Percy to see like Ann about three episodes were dedicated

1:17:15

Percy take a back be interesting to see how

1:17:18

it shifts around in a tv format to you

1:17:20

think it'll be fun I think they've

1:17:22

got a lot of room to play in

1:17:24

the space and we'll see if they

1:17:26

play in that space. be Percy they've got a the

1:17:28

blame for this situation thus everyone thinks they are cursed.

1:17:30

everyone thinks five's are cursed. It's in that fault. is

1:17:32

in that cohort is bad. he All this

1:17:34

is what he thinks is going on.

1:17:37

And Hazel says that they've been ever ever

1:17:39

since the Alaska trip, but their reputation improved

1:17:41

when Jason became prey tour. tour. And Percy

1:17:43

goes, the kid who's missing? missing? Percy, come

1:17:45

on, man. There's gotta be any other way

1:17:47

to ask that, right? that, right? Gotta be

1:17:49

a little more delicate here. Frank confirms and

1:17:51

adds that he never met him because

1:17:54

he was before his time, but he heard

1:17:56

that he was a great leader who

1:17:58

practically grew up in the the cohort. He didn't

1:18:00

care what people thought about the group. He worked

1:18:02

to rebuild their reputation until his disappearance. And

1:18:05

that feels very much like what Percy

1:18:07

would do to the fifth cohort. So it

1:18:09

feels like those similarities between Jason and

1:18:11

Percy is being good leaders and good dudes

1:18:13

between will, I think, help the fifth cohort.

1:18:15

But yeah, I feel bad for them.

1:18:17

Like they had all this upward momentum. the

1:18:19

says that But yeah, Jason got lost, that brought

1:18:21

them all the way back to square

1:18:23

one because they're like, oh, yeah, cohort when

1:18:25

You finally have someone brought He gets to

1:18:27

this position of power. Now we don't know

1:18:29

where know and he's disappeared he's disappeared.

1:18:31

So proof like you're definitely

1:18:33

cursed there's no way

1:18:35

you're not cursed There's no way you're

1:18:37

not cursed. Look at guess A. Exhibit J,

1:18:39

I guess. So Hazel then for

1:18:41

putting putting Percy in this mess. And the

1:18:43

next part I just got I just gotta a

1:18:45

verbatim so good. so good. Percy his blue

1:18:47

soda and gazed thoughtfully across the dining

1:18:49

hall. the I don't even know where

1:18:51

I come from, I but I've got

1:18:53

a feeling this isn't the first

1:18:55

time I've been an underdog. He focused

1:18:57

on Hazel and managed to smile.

1:18:59

Besides hazel and is better than being chased

1:19:01

through the wilderness by monsters. I've

1:19:03

got myself some new friends. Maybe together

1:19:05

we can turn things around for

1:19:08

the fifth cohort, huh? got myself That's Maybe together

1:19:10

a vibe. I'm so glad to have Percy

1:19:12

back in the mix. He's such a good

1:19:14

sport. He's such a good spirit. He's exactly

1:19:16

what they need. The pairing of the two

1:19:18

of them with him is gonna be so

1:19:20

fun a a dynamic. I can't wait for them

1:19:22

to see how competent and awesome he is

1:19:24

when it comes to fighting monsters. to It's

1:19:27

so great. so great. Yeah, playing Percy and Jason off

1:19:29

one another, like thinking about how Jason dealt

1:19:31

with his amnesia amnesia in the Percy. Jason felt

1:19:33

so so. out of place. And I wonder if

1:19:35

that's just because we don't know him as

1:19:37

a character. him as a character. you're talking about like... his

1:19:39

story and his his story and his arc he

1:19:41

got the fifth cohort right before

1:19:44

he was taken out. I feel

1:19:46

like Percy made more progress at more

1:19:48

than Jason did at Camp Jupiter, than

1:19:50

but I also wonder if that's just

1:19:52

because we saw Percy's progress unfold

1:19:54

over saw books. progress unfold over line from

1:19:56

Percy is from Percy is more confident than than

1:19:59

Jason sounds any point. the lost hero. True, true, true.

1:20:01

It's cool cool we know Percy and

1:20:03

it's cool to see see like of

1:20:05

the original Percy start to come back

1:20:07

in but like like we We just hit like

1:20:09

page 100 when he says that compared to like

1:20:11

to like Jason pages and being like, me like I think

1:20:13

we think we did it, way. Yeah I think it

1:20:15

our way. Yeah, I think it shows the

1:20:17

difference between Jason and Percy's approaches

1:20:19

also then also kind of like their

1:20:21

situations in terms of leadership. of I think

1:20:23

Jason has more more pressure, the right? He's

1:20:25

got the pressure of so dad is from like

1:20:27

the King So he's already from like the

1:20:29

to of Olympus. So he's got to

1:20:31

deal with that. Then at Camp Jupiter

1:20:33

he was a leaders of the he's one of

1:20:35

the leaders of the camp. of like the

1:20:37

he's kind of like the most important

1:20:39

person at the camp. He's not necessarily

1:20:41

in a true leadership position. the Yes, he

1:20:43

leads the battle, but he really didn't

1:20:45

want to do it until everyone was

1:20:47

like, it's obviously you, Percy. It has

1:20:49

to be you. you. So So think think

1:20:51

Jason is someone who likes a little bit

1:20:53

more control. He wants to make sure

1:20:56

he's doing a good job. He wants

1:20:58

to wants to. lead people well, feel like he's

1:21:00

leading them in a proper way. Whereas

1:21:02

way, whereas always been a role with the

1:21:04

punches guy. He's always just been like,

1:21:06

I don't know, whatever. I'll figure it

1:21:08

out. that's exactly what the situation

1:21:10

is. I'll just thinking, I know nothing about

1:21:12

me. I don't know, whatever, let's go find

1:21:14

this eagle. Sure, that sounds good. Oh,

1:21:16

this cohort, everybody hates them. Let's make them

1:21:18

love you. Yeah, cool, whatever. And I

1:21:20

think that is just Percy's style. And I

1:21:22

think it's fun to see more examples

1:21:24

of, I know Percy and Jason kind of operate

1:21:26

in similar spaces. And nothing the two leads

1:21:28

that have to be the exchange to

1:21:30

make the prophecy come true. But we are

1:21:32

seeing that there are clear there differences in

1:21:34

their personality, and you're exactly right. A

1:21:36

big way that we can see that difference.

1:21:38

is the way in which they handle

1:21:40

their amnesia. is the way in approaches. their and it's

1:21:42

also like Percy has always been the

1:21:44

renegade. Yeah, always been also like hasn't wanted

1:21:46

Percy to succeed. The entire time of

1:21:48

his whole arc is like pushing against

1:21:50

Percy and that brings out a fire

1:21:52

in him push back against the machine.

1:21:54

I feel like that's where his confidence

1:21:57

comes from. out a fire in it feels like

1:21:59

the stars have always been aligned It's like it's

1:22:01

always been like we have big plans for

1:22:03

Jason. big We don't want Jason to succeed. to And

1:22:05

so when all that is stripped away, is I

1:22:07

feel like that's where that. that Lack of

1:22:09

confidence comes from. that's what he has to build

1:22:11

back to build back to. Yeah, yeah. So the horn blows, all the blows. Raina

1:22:13

All the officers rise. Percy says the games are

1:22:15

beginning. Percy asks if being the attacking team

1:22:17

is good. the And Hazel says the good news

1:22:19

is they get the elephant. But the bad news

1:22:21

is, and then Percy finishes, then let me guess,

1:22:23

the fifth cohort always loses. and And then Frank

1:22:25

this Percy on the shoulder and says, chalk up my

1:22:27

love this guy. in a Come on, new friend. row, and,

1:22:29

Let's go chalk up my 13th defeat in

1:22:31

a row. uh, uh, and uh, uh, uh, And, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,

1:22:33

uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, dude? uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh You

1:22:36

You don't understand that Percy Jackson

1:22:38

is about to save your team your

1:22:40

James on the 2003 -2004 Cleveland

1:22:42

Cavaliers. He's gonna come through through and

1:22:44

whole team to victory? to You're gonna

1:22:46

be gonna be fine. But that is the end of is

1:22:48

the end of 8, which I which I

1:22:50

have I give I give a history history

1:22:52

lesson. a Do you have a retitling

1:22:54

of chapter eight? Well, I was gonna

1:22:56

say that was a perfect opportunity

1:22:58

to make a Tom Brady comparison perfect

1:23:00

of the Boston of my Boston crown. I don't

1:23:02

care about football, so I don't

1:23:04

feel insulted by this. by this. Better chapter title. What

1:23:06

comes to me based on What comes to me based

1:23:08

on that line get my says like it. Yeah, it I get

1:23:10

my swagger back. it feels like at the end of the chapter, the like that's

1:23:12

what it feels like at the end of the

1:23:14

chapter, the fact that everyone is like, oh, we're going

1:23:17

to lose. pull this like, lose. one out. And it's we'll probably pull

1:23:19

this one out. And it's like, you don't know

1:23:21

anything. This is your first day at Jupiter. And And he's

1:23:23

got all the confidence in the world, the like the

1:23:25

Percy Jackson we know. So I get my swagger

1:23:27

back. Yeah, I like it. All right. Well, that is

1:23:29

the end of this chapter. And that is the

1:23:31

end of this episode for now. If you're listening, we'll

1:23:33

take another little break and then we'll come back

1:23:35

for the Q and then we'll come back for the Q&A.

1:23:40

Hey, it's Mike it's Mike here one more

1:23:42

time just little break break it's a a longer

1:23:44

episode episode a break here just for

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more of those more ads ads And then get

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into the Q the is a very fun

1:23:50

Q &A fun just a little update we

1:23:52

have switched the hosting platform of the

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Newest platform of the New Stone time to one

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where I should be even more able

1:23:58

to to out some of those sponsors, but if a weird

1:24:00

a weird right sponsor ever does come seem send an email to the News, you

1:24:02

does come through, I can do send people to a block, but we found

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a new.com can get then I can tell my ad people

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to get a block. But we found a new provider

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who can get even more specific with the brands

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that we restrict from advertising on the show. will So and

1:24:13

you we anything close out with me an email. we We're going

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to be on top of it. now, We're getting that

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out up over the coming days and weeks. we But

1:24:19

anyway, out with hear some ads now we then we will

1:24:21

close out with the then we will close out with the Q&s, and then,

1:24:23

and then we will close out with the Q&s, and Let's

1:24:26

do Q&A! Whoo! So, the first question comes from Ariel,

1:24:28

who's helping out at the merch table. At the merge

1:24:30

two serious questions Mike. one goofy two so whichever

1:24:32

you prefer, I guess. Let's do them all. goofy questions,

1:24:34

the first mention from one of the ghosts I

1:24:36

guess. in Judea, which begins my list of, oh,

1:24:39

Rick, did you have to regarding Jewish representation

1:24:41

in the series? about wondering if in the future

1:24:43

you might do an episode on the way you

1:24:45

did for Potters. I think so. I think

1:24:47

at some point, fighting in Heroes of Olympus, I'm waiting

1:24:49

to see kind of how it shakes out

1:24:51

more in the series to see if it warrants

1:24:53

it. Like I feel like at some point,

1:24:55

I'll it. probably do. probably do background thing. I'll see

1:24:57

how this goes. thing. I'll couple how this goes. But yeah, I

1:25:00

did also mentally note like, should we do an

1:25:02

episode about this? also see how the note like, of

1:25:04

it goes. do an episode in Boston, there's a museum

1:25:06

called the how the history which is basically a replica

1:25:08

Roman in in the middle of the city. a

1:25:10

has a lot of plants inside and the gardener

1:25:12

last name. Since I learned about it, I've

1:25:14

been thinking there must be some way to tie

1:25:16

that into the series. And I'm shocked that

1:25:19

Rick, who lives in Boston, hasn't worked it in

1:25:21

somehow. I guess it's not much of a

1:25:23

question. But do you much have any thoughts on

1:25:25

this? this. I cool. I'll have to have to it out

1:25:27

at some point. some I won't be able to

1:25:29

check be able to my it out this trip tomorrow is at

1:25:31

six in the morning. at 6 in the I have

1:25:33

enough time to do these shows, to sleep shows go

1:25:35

back home to help out with the baby. baby

1:25:37

but yeah then you know what know what? Maybe there's still

1:25:39

hope. He's writing those three new books, right? So

1:25:41

I don't know if it shows up in

1:25:43

the one that just came out recently. out Maybe

1:25:45

the next one they find a way to Boston.

1:25:47

they So a way to hope is not yet lost. yet

1:25:49

lost. which Amtrak line would you associate with each

1:25:51

character? Shout out to the Northeastern which I took

1:25:53

I from Boston to Trenton while in college. while in

1:25:55

I mean, I let's see. Percy's just to be

1:25:57

the be the Northeast right? right? it just feels

1:25:59

like. like. They're reliable, makes the local stops.

1:26:02

Like it's not necessarily the fastest, but

1:26:04

it'll get you there. Ooh, man. I'm

1:26:06

trying to think, I don't know like

1:26:08

too many of the line super well,

1:26:10

I just kind of like take whatever

1:26:12

train I need to. I only know

1:26:14

New York to Boston. Yeah, and that's

1:26:16

Northeast Corridor. Yeah, I guess Percy. Yeah,

1:26:18

so that feels Percy. I feel like

1:26:20

Annabeth would be the Isella, because she's

1:26:22

like, oh, I know the optimal way,

1:26:24

because she's like, oh, I know, the

1:26:26

Acella, because she's like, oh, I know,

1:26:28

like, the Asellaa, because she's, like, like,

1:26:30

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

1:26:32

I'm, Ase, I'm, Ase, I'm, Ase, Ase,

1:26:35

Ase, Ase, I'm, Ase, Ase, ASElla, Ase,

1:26:37

ASElla, Ase, Ase, ASElla, ASElla, ASElla, ASElla,

1:26:39

Ase, Ase, Ase, Ase, Ase, My boss,

1:26:41

me is good for it. And then,

1:26:43

I don't know, the only thing I

1:26:45

would say is like, who's? I guess

1:26:47

Frank for now, just because it says

1:26:49

that Frank and Hazel, everything goes wrong

1:26:51

with them, I will say that that

1:26:53

is like any line in the Midwest,

1:26:55

because I'm such a spoiled New York

1:26:57

boy, the first time I did a

1:26:59

tour through the Midwest, I didn't realize

1:27:01

that like the Amtrak lines, I didn't

1:27:03

realize that like the Amtrak lines there,

1:27:05

it's like one train a day, it's

1:27:08

like the Amtrak lines, it's like the

1:27:10

Amtrak lines, it's like a three and

1:27:12

hazel, just because. Not as reliable, because

1:27:14

if one of the train breaks down,

1:27:16

it's like, cool, there's one other train.

1:27:18

Awesome. So that would be my Amtrak

1:27:20

situation. We need more Amtrak trains. Bazaar.

1:27:22

Bazaar. The Northeast, we're so spoiled. It's

1:27:24

so great here. Imagine if that was

1:27:26

everywhere else. But we can be happy,

1:27:28

because we can take the Amtrak everywhere.

1:27:30

And they don't check your bags. Yay!

1:27:32

So. Okay, perfect. This is from Alex,

1:27:34

through p.m. Basketball live show question. You're

1:27:36

talking to the right person. Hi Meg,

1:27:38

I'm going to attempt to tie together

1:27:41

one of your interests and one of

1:27:43

mine, given that Dwight Howard and other

1:27:45

basketball players do well on Dancing with

1:27:47

the Stars. Who is an NBA player

1:27:49

that you're dancing with the stars? Who

1:27:51

is an NBA player that you would

1:27:53

like to see on the show? And

1:27:55

which are you're rocking? underneath this sweater.

1:27:57

But I wore the, oh, Yankee fans

1:27:59

of the crowd. Nice, we have a

1:28:01

team to root for tomorrow. But I

1:28:03

did wear light blue and yellow to

1:28:05

pay homage to the Boston City flag.

1:28:07

So I did throw you a bone.

1:28:09

But I also did a little treat

1:28:11

for me. So NBA players or Percy

1:28:14

Jackney characters, that would be good on

1:28:16

dancing with the stars. I would say

1:28:18

Alan Iverson would be incredible footwork wise

1:28:20

dancing with stars. I feel like Steve

1:28:22

Curry would also be very good quick

1:28:24

feet. Anyone that's just like I feel,

1:28:26

you know, quick on their feet and

1:28:28

agile would do well. Jay Jay, Redick

1:28:30

probably would do really well. He does

1:28:32

a lot of things where he's a

1:28:34

guy who like runs around a lot

1:28:36

off of screens and stuff. When he

1:28:38

played, so I feel like he would

1:28:40

be solid. He definitely have the cardio.

1:28:42

He'd be a good. Jupiter slash camp

1:28:44

Halfblood people that would be good at

1:28:46

it. Who do we think would be

1:28:49

good at ballroom dancing? I can see

1:28:51

Annabeth because ballroom dancing to me feels

1:28:53

like a mix between athletics but then

1:28:55

also intellect where like you have to

1:28:57

know the steps but then you have

1:28:59

to like physically be able to make

1:29:01

them happen properly and I feel like

1:29:03

she with her like part planning part

1:29:05

good in battle mind. I think she

1:29:07

would be really solid at doing that.

1:29:09

Anyone else that we see dance? I

1:29:11

don't really know. I'd just like to

1:29:13

see Grover on Dancing with the Stars.

1:29:15

Yeah. Specifically, Arion, he's just told many

1:29:17

great stories about how he learned how

1:29:19

to like walk like a goat and

1:29:22

it became second nature to him. So

1:29:24

yeah, put him in some tap shoes.

1:29:26

Yeah. I also wouldn't be surprised if...

1:29:28

the cabin of Aphrodite. If those campers

1:29:30

are really good, just feels like that

1:29:32

could be a solid like dancing type

1:29:34

thing. So yeah, maybe Piper's really good.

1:29:36

Maybe Salina would have been good. So

1:29:38

I think there's a lot of different

1:29:40

opportunities there. Okay. Oh, this one, the

1:29:42

subject line is just, Rhode Island, Rah!

1:29:44

from S.J. Hi Megan Liam, my name

1:29:46

is S.J. from Rhode Island, the superior

1:29:48

New England state. I'll stay out of

1:29:50

this one, I don't know. A fun

1:29:52

thing about Rhode Island is one of

1:29:55

her friends went to Rhodes, which is

1:29:57

an island. I think it's near the

1:29:59

U.S. one of our friends who lives

1:30:01

in London did a vacation to roads.

1:30:03

And Kelly was like, where is roads?

1:30:05

And she googled roads, but it auto

1:30:07

filled to like, Rhode Island. And Kelly

1:30:09

was like, oh, yeah, it looked like

1:30:11

they were on an island? Yeah, Rhode

1:30:13

Island sounds nice. And then like two

1:30:15

seconds later, she was like, oh, Rhode

1:30:17

Island. Which like, it's not an island.

1:30:19